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DISCIPLINE 
AND  THE  DERELICT 


jTh^y^o 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NSW  YORK    ■    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LmrrKD 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  ■    CALCUTTA 
MBLBOURNK 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA.  Lrn. 

TORONTO 


^DISCIPLINE 
AND  THE  DERELICT 

Being  a  series  of  essays  on  some 
of  those  who  tread  the  green  carpet 


BY 

THOMAS  ARKLE  (^LARK 

Dean  of  Men,  University  of  Illinois 


Jl3eto  gotk 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1921 

AU  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1921, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


S«t  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  March,  igji. 


^4  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIPORN 

^     \  SANTA  BARBARA 


PREFACE 

Human  nature  is  strangely  similar  wherever  we 
find  it.  The  college  undergraduate  does  not  differ 
widely  in  characteristics  whether  we  meet  him  in  Cal- 
ifornia or  Massachusetts;  in  Michigan  or  Mississippi. 
The  deductions  which  are  contained  in  these  essays 
are  drawn  from  an  intimate  and  an  extended  asso- 
ciation with  undergraduate  students  at  the  University 
of  Illinois ;  they  might,  however,  have  been  written  at 
any  other  institution  where  similarly  close  relation- 
ships were  possible. 

Thomas  Arkle  Clark. 

Urbana,  Illinois. 


CONTENTS 

PAOK 

Discipline  and  the  Derelict i 

The  Borrower 27 

The  Undergraduate  and  Graft 48 

Youngest  Sons  and  Only  Children 67 

"  And  Some  Must  Work  " 8g 

The  Politician 109 

The  Cribber 129 

The  Athlete 155 

The  Loafer 174 

The  Fusser i8g 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

As  long  as  we  deal  with  youth  we  shall  have  pretty 
regular  violation  of  rule  in  college.  "  How  long  are 
we  to  have  student  outbreaks,  and  student  irregu- 
larities?" our  president  asked  me  not  long  ago, 
"  Can't  you  ever  get  the  boys  educated  so  that  we  shall 
not  be  longer  troubled  with  these  things  ? "  "I 
could,  I  think,"  was  my  reply,  "  if  I  were  allowed  to 
work  with  them  long  enough.  But  when  they  are 
educated  they  leave  us.  A  big  new  crowd  of  young 
ones  is  introduced  every  year,  and  the  process  of  edu- 
cation must  be  begun  again." 

I  remember  being  asked  at  one  time,  with  reference 
to  an  action  taken  by  the  executive  body  of  the  Uni- 
versity, what  caused  the  members  to  vote  as  they  did? 
When  I  put  the  question  to  one  of  the  officers  con- 
cerned, his  reply  was  that  it  was  a  question  which  no 
one  could  intelligently  answer.  Xo  two  men,  he  said, 
have  in  mind  the  same  reason  or  purpose  in  coming 
to  any  conclusion.  I  vote  for  an  issue  for  one  reason, 
my  neighbor  for  another.  It  is  all  a  matter  of  per- 
sonal judgment.  The  same  thing  is  true,  I  have  no 
doubt,  with  reference  to  the  college  derelict.  The 
purposes  in  the  mind  of  half  a  dozen  different  indi- 
viduals who  vote  to  impose  a  penalty  upon  an  under- 
graduate who  has  been  guilty  of  a  violation  of  college 
rules  arc  probably  in  no  two  cases  alike.  In  the 
main,  I  take  it,  however,  there  is  little  if  any  thought 

1 


2  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

in  the  mind  of  most  men  that  such  discipline  is  to 
punish  the  offender  as  the  state  for  instance  might 
punish  crime.  The  purpose  I  have  kept  before 
me  in  whatever  I  have  recommended  is,  first  of 
all,  to  correct  the  offender,  to  turn  him  in  the 
right  direction,  to  make  it  less  likely  that  he  will  of- 
fend in  this  regard  again.  The  main  function  of  ed- 
ucation as  I  see  it  is  to  make  good  citizens.  There  is 
a  further  one,  of  course,  which  discipline  subserves, 
and  that  is  a  deterrent  one.  Offenders  are  disci- 
plined because  it  is  hoped  by  that  method  to  call  the 
attention  of  others  to  the  fact  that  certain  things  are 
objectionable  or  wrong,  and  so  to  reduce  the  tendency 
to  such  irregularities. 

There  are  those  whose  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  are 
so  rigid,  whose  feelings  are  so  strong,  that  they  in- 
sist that  every  one  who  does  wrong  should  submit  to 
a  definite  punishment  which  will  inflict  upon  him  a 
certain  amount  of  pain  and  disgrace.  Xot  long  ago  I 
received  a  letter  from  one  of  our  former  students, 
saying  that  when  he  transferred  his  credits  from  a 
neighboring  institution  to  the  University  of  Illinois 
he  had  changed  two  of  the  grades,  and  so  had  received 
credit  for  five  hours  of  work  to  which  he  was  not  en- 
titled. He  asked  to  have  this  error  corrected,  and 
said  that  when  he  returned  next  year  to  finish  his 
college  work  he  wished  to  register  for  the  five  hours 
stolen  and  earn  his  credit  honestly.  There  was  a 
wide  range  of  opinion  among  our  officials  as  to  what 
action  should  be  taken  in  his  case.  The  error  was 
one  which  by  no  possibility  would  have  been  detected 
had  he  not  admitted  it,  and  it  was  an  error  which  af- 
fected no  one  but  himself,  since  no  one  else  knew  of 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  3 

it.  One  university  officer  felt  strongly  that  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  man  had  confessed  and  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  make  good  the  false  credits,  here 
was  a  case  which  demanded  punishment,  a  more  com- 
plete expiation,  and  he  thought  that  tlie  student 
should  be  expelled.  I  felt  very  differently.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  a  young  fellow  who  had  the  cour- 
age to  confess  a  dereliction  of  this  sort  and  to  offer 
to  make  such  restitution  as  was  possible  was  well  on 
the  way  to  good  citizenship,  and  should  be  met  half 
way.  In  his  case  the  purpose  of  discipline  had  been 
accomplished. 

Each  institution  employs  its  own  methods  in  the 
handling  of  disciplinary  matters.  If  the  college  is 
small,  the  president  often  is  the  autocrat  who  decides 
the  fate  of  the  untoward.  Sometimes  it  is  the  faculty 
as  a  whole  which  deliberates  long  and  seriously  over 
the  cases  of  delinquents.  In  my  own  undergraduate 
days  when  a  young  fellow  had  been  drunk,  had 
danced  in  a  college  building,  had  carried  away  the 
campus  fence  to  add  fuel  to  the  bonfire  in  celebra- 
tion of  Hallowe'en,  or  had  backed  the  cannon  into 
the  sluggish  campus  creek  in  order  to  show  his  dis- 
approval of  military  drill  —  wlien  he  had  done  any  of 
these  things  and  was  caught,  he  was  brought  before 
the  entire  faculty,  assembled  in  serious  session,  and 
here  lie  was  tried.  It  was  a  harrowing  experience, 
and  not  one  always  likely  to  bring  justice.  When 
an  entire  faculty  deliberates  on  disciplinary  matters, 
there  is  likely  to  be  much  talking,  some  wrangling, 
and  uncertain  conclusions.  The  responsibility  is  too 
widely  scattered,  and  the  student  and  good  order 
are  likely  to  suffer. 


4  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

In  many  institutions  tliese  matters  are  left  en- 
tirely in  the  hands  of  the  students  who  through 
one  sort  of  organization  or  another  sit  upon  the 
cases  of  offenders  against  good  order  and  college 
regulations  and  pass  judgment  upon  them.  At  other 
places  such  matters  are  handled  by  a  small  commit- 
tee of  the  faculty,  or  there  may  be  a  combination  of 
these  various  methods  in  operation  in  the  same  insti- 
tution. Since  I  have  been  a  college  officer  I  have  had 
more  or  less  experience  with  all  of  these  methods. 

When  I  was  in  college  I  have  no  recollection  that 
discipline  was  often  enforced.  The  institution,  just 
previous  to  my  entrance,  had  recovered  from  a  rather 
serious  attack  of  student  government  in  its  worst 
form,  and  disciplinary  affairs  were  running  along 
pretty  much  by  themselves.  There  was  cribbing,  but 
no  one  seemed  to  pay  mucli  attention  to  it.  I  have 
no  remembrance  that  any  one  was  ever  called  to 
account  for  dishonesty  or  in  any  way  punished  for 
it  during  my  whole  college  course.  There  were 
student  outbreaks,  but  if  aiiytliing  was  ever  done 
to  the  individuals  concerned,  they  petitioned  the 
faculty,  peace  was  restored,  and  the  offenders  were 
immediately  reinstated  in  their  former  positions. 
Xothing  short  of  a  riot  ever  aroused  any  comment 
on  the  part  of  tlie  faculty,  for  with  us  at  that  time, 
as  I  have  said,  it  was  the  faculty  before  whom 
the  culprit  appeared,  who  heard  tlie  evidence,  and 
who  after  much  talk  and  discussion,  pronounced  the 
verdict. 

For  myself,  1  believe  that  college  discipline  may 
best  be  administered  through  a  small  group  or  com- 
mittee of  the  faculty.     The   entire   faculty  of   any 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  5 

college  is  too  large  for  such  a  purpose,  and  is  too 
conglomerate  and  bizarre.  A  man  or  a  woman  may 
be  a  very  good  teacher  without  having  any  of  the 
judicial  qualities  which  are  required  in  passing  upon 
cases  of  discipline.  Every  extreme  of  attitude  to- 
ward the  violations  of  college  regulations  will  be 
found  in  any  faculty,  from  the  man  who  would  con- 
done any  overt  act  to  the  one  who  would  guillotine 
or  burn  at  the  stake  the  perpetrator  of  the  most 
trifling  prank.  The  time  necessary  to  be  consumed 
by  a  college  faculty  in  this  sort  of  work,  if  it  is  taken 
at  all  seriously,  is  beyond  all  reason,  and  in  the  end 
offers  little  likelihood  of  justice  to  the  student. 

It  has  never  seemed  to  me  good  policy  that  the 
president  of  an  institution  should  have  entire  charge 
of  disciplinary  matters,  not  only  because  the  time  of 
the  president  of  any  institution  is  ordinarily  taken 
up  with  other  matters  of  equal  importance,  but  also 
because  I  do  not  think  such  matters  should  ever  be 
wholly  in  the  hands  of  one  man.  The  cases  are 
frequently  so  puzzling  and  so  complicated  and  so 
hard  to  unravel  that  several  heads  are  better  than 
one.  In  cases  where  the  evidence  is  not  overwhelm- 
ingly convincing  it  is  a  comfort  to  feel  tiiat  one  has 
other  men  upon  whose  judgment  one  can  rely  and 
upon  whom  one  can  fall  back  in  case  of  difficulty. 
Every  college  president  who  does  not  think  himself 
omniscient  will  feel  the  same  way. 

Many  institutions  throw  the  burden  of  deciding 
all  disciplinary  cases,  such  as  those  concerned  with 
cribbing,  and  vstealing,  and  drinking,  upon  a  commit- 
tee of  students  or  a  student  council.  I  have  talked 
with   a  number  of  college  officials  the  disciplinary 


6  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

affairs  of  whose  institutions  are  so  managed,  and 
the}'  all  expressed  themselves  as  well  satisfied  with 
the  result.  One  officer  who  was  in  general  charge  of 
undergraduate  affairs  in  the  institution  to  which  he 
helonged  said,  in  speaking  to  mc,  that  he  should  not 
himself  want  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  deciding 
the  complicated  matters  which  arise  in  connection 
with  student  discipline;  they  seemed  to  him  too  diffi- 
cult to  solve,  hut  he  was  verv'  well  sjitisfied  to  leave 
such  things  with  the  students  who  were  doing  it 
seriously  and  satisfactorily.  His  viewpoint  seems  to 
rae  very  much  as  if  a  hanker  might  say  that  his 
financial  affairs  were  so  complicated  and  tangled  and 
so  difficult  of  intelligent  solution  that  he  was  more 
contented  to  turn  them  over  to  liis  children  to  he 
dealt  with  than  to  settle  them  himself. 

I  have  always  had  an  abiding  faith  in  students, 
and  I  am  quite  sure  that  when  they  set  themselves 
seriously  to  the  accomplishment  of  even  a  difficult 
task  it  is  likely  to  be  done  well;  but  I  have  liad  ex- 
perience in  disciplinary  matters  and  know  something 
of  other  executive  problems  which  may  come  before  a 
college  officer.  There  is  nothing  with  whicli  1  have 
h.ad  to  do  officially  that  requires  such  careful  judg- 
ment as  disciplinary  matters  —  such  diplomacy,  such 
sympathy,  such  firmness,  such  freedom  from  preju- 
dice and  bias,  such  skill  iii  handling  all  who  are  con- 
cerned with  the  affair.  If  the  lines  between  good 
and  evil,  between  truth  and  falsity,  could  always  be 
clearly  drawn,  if  motives  and  the  influences  whicli 
surround  the  erring  student  did  not  have  to  be  con- 
sidered, if,  in  short,  wo  were  not  dealing  with  the 
most  subtle  and  intanfrible  thincrs  when  we  are  trviner 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  7 

to  mete  out  justice  in  discipline,  I  should  be  willing 
perhaps  to  trust  these  matters  to  the  experience  of 
students.  But  I  know  how  hard  these  matters  are 
to  decide  with  fairness,  how  easy  it  is  to  make  an 
error,  how  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  correct  one 
after  it  is  made,  and  how  much  is  at  stake  for  the 
undergraduate  concerned. 

The  greatest  handicap  in  my  experience  to  success- 
ful college  discipline  is  the  number  of  rules  laid 
down  by  the  college  authorities  for  the  conduct  of 
students.  Many  college  officers  feel  that  when  an 
evil  exists  or  an  erroneous  custom  prevails  the  only 
thing  necessary  is  to  pass  a  regulation  against  the 
evil  or  the  custom,  and  the  matter  is  settled.  I  have 
found  that  I  can  in  the  long  run  do  far  more  by 
suggestion  and  persuasion  than  by  rule,  and  do  it 
much  more  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  students  con- 
cerned, for  often  it  is  possible  to  have  them  feel 
that  they  have  done  it  themselves.  Generally  the 
more  rules  an  institution  has,  the  more  difficulty 
officers  find  in  maintaining  good  order,  and  in  keeping 
the  young  people  within  bounds. 

It  is  safe  to  take  for  granted  that  young  people  of 
college  age  know  in  the  main  what  is  right  and  what 
is  reasonable  as  to  conduct,  so  that  it  is  not  necessary 
that  every  sin  in  the  decalogue  or  that  every  viola- 
tion of  law  under  tlie  statute  should  be  named  in  the 
college  catalog  and  the  penalty  for  its  violation  at- 
tached. Rules  often  prevent  individual  action  in 
specific  cases.  Every  violation  of  good  order  should 
be  taken  up,  looked  into,  and  judged  as  if  it  were 
the  only  one  of  its  sort.  Rules  often  hamper  sucli 
judgment.     Only  a  short  time  ago  the  members  ol 


8  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

our  own  disciplinary  committee  were  discussing  the 
penalty  which  was  about  to  be  recommended  for  a 
student  who  had  been  somewhat  irregular  in  conduct. 
"  I  should  be  glad  to  vote  for  this  penalty,"  one 
of  the  members  said,  "  if  it  did  not  seem  to  me  incon- 
sistent with  what  we  have  previously  done  in  similar 
cases.  The  last  man  we  had  before  us  who  had  been 
guilty  of  a  similar  irregularity  received  a  much  more 
severe  penalty." 

"  Any  one  who  has  been  on  this  committee  long," 
a  second  member  answered,  "  must  realize  that  its 
chief  virtue  is  that  it  never  pretends  to  be  con- 
sistent. It  treats  men  as  individuals,  and  we  have 
never  met  two  individuals  alike." 

Many  college  rules  are  virtually  a  dead  letter 
because  they  are  difficult  or  impossible  of  enforce- 
ment, and  the  existence  of  such  regulations  can  do 
nothing  less  than  bring  the  wliole  system  of  college 
statutes  into  ridicule  and  disrepute.  If  a  rule  is 
made,  some  effort  should  be  made  to  enforce  it; 
though  many  people  think  that  laws  in  themselves 
carry  weight,  even  if  allowed  to  go  unexecuted. 

More  than  this,  the  very  existence  of  regulations 
will  frequently  incite  students  to  insubordination 
tl)at  would  not  otlierwise  liave  l)een  thouglit  of. 
"  I've  just  discovered,"  one  freshman  said  to  another; 
"  that  it's  against  the  rule  to  smoke  in  the  quad- 
rangle. Xow  I  suppose  it  will  make  me  sick,  but  I 
couldn't  let  a  thing  like  that  go  by  without  having 
a  try  at  it."  I  am  not  arguing  against  regulations 
per  se:  some,  of  course,  are  necessary  for  tho  proper 
conduct  of  anv  business  or  institution,  but  the  fewer 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  9 

tlie  better,  and  then  only  those  which  are  absolutely 
necessary. 

The   best  way   to  manage  the   student  guilty   of  j 
misconduct  is  to  look  after  him  so  personally  and  so  X 
carefully  that  he  may  be  brought  to  account  just 
before  he  has  been  guilty  of  the  act  which  would  sub- 
ject him  to  discipline.     The  most  skilful  disciplinary 
work  which  I  have  ever  done  has  been  connected  with     ^ 
the  things  that  never  happened,  because  they  were  # 
not  allowed  to  do  so. 

Granted  that  the  college  has  made  few  rules,  and 
that  there  is  some  one  who  keeps  himself  thoroughly 
conversant  with  what  is  going  on,  there  will  still  be 
misconduct,  and  necessity  on  the  part  of  college 
officers  to  exercise  authority.  Youth  is  still  young 
and  curious  and  irresponsible,  and  is  quite  as  likely 
to  be  guided  by  impulse  as  by  judgment.  x\s  I  have 
said,  1  believe  that  disciplinary  matters  in  college 
will  be  more  satisfactorily  handled  to  all  concerned 
if  put  in  charge  of  a  small  committee  of  the  faculty 
composed  of  from  three  to  five  persons  chosen  be- 
cause of  their  knowledge  of  student  life  and  condi- 
tions, and  because  of  their  special  fitness  to  form 
reasonable  and  sympatlietic  judgments  on  the  cases 
that  come  before  tliem.  The  members  of  such  a 
committee  should  be  young  or  should  have  once  been 
young  with  the  memory  of  that  time  in  mind,  and 
their  appointment  should  so  far  as  possible  be  a 
permanent  one.  They  should  be  broad-minded,  and 
above  petty  prejudices;  they  should  still  be  interested 
in  the  things  outside  of  books  that  interest  normal 
healthy  young  people, —  such  as  athletic  sports  and 


10  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

social  pleasures;  they  should  have  high  moral  and 
scholastic  ideals.  They  should  have  backbone  enough 
when  an  unpleasant  thing  has  to  be  done,  and  ought 
to  be  done,  to  do  it  even  though  it  hurts  some  students 
and  some  fathers  and  mothers.  Ordinarily  I  should 
not  consider  it  a  calamity  if  neither  women  nor  law- 
yers were  on  such  a  committee.  Women  are  more 
often  than  men  influenced  by  their  prejudices  or  their 
emotions,  and  lawyers  are  likely  to  insist  upon  a 
"  legal  "  conviction.  Conditions  are  such  that  a  man 
should  often  be  allowed  to  go  free  who  has  violated  a 
college  regulation,  wliile  anotlier  man  who  may  not 
be  proved  guilty  of  any  actual  dereliction  may  yet 
clearly  be  a  detriment  to  the  community,  and  should 
be  sent  away. 

During  the  years  in  whicli,  as  chairman  of  our  com- 
mittee on  discipline  for  men,  I  have  had  to  do  witli 
discipline  at  the  University  of  Illinois  T  have  had  a 
good  many  interesting  experiences,  and  have  drawn 
from  these  experiences  some  pretty  definite  conclu- 
sions. I  have  come  to  realize  that  a  disciplinary 
ofhcer  to  be  successful  must  have  certain  personal 
traits  of  charartor.  He  must  first  of  all  have  the 
confidence  of  both  students  and  faculty.  The  faculty 
must  feel  that  matters  given  into  his  hands  will  be 
dealt  with  squarely  and  without  dclav.  Xo  college 
instructor  wishes  to  be  huniiliated  by  having  matters 
of  discipline  which  ho  reports  either  ignored  or 
treated  lightly.  Neither  slunild  ho  feel  that  he  is 
compromisetl,  if  not  every  student  whom  he  reports 
for  discipline  is  found  guilty.  Some  instructors 
whom  I  have  known  are  as  sensitive  upon  this  topic 
as   aeolian   harps.      I    know  more  than   one   who   re- 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  11 

fuses  to  report  cases  of  alleged  cribbing,  because  of 
the  fact  that  a  student  previously  reported  was  not 
proved  guilty  by  the  disciplinary  committee.  It  was 
not  justice  they  desired  but  conviction. 

No  disciplinary  officer  will  get  on  well  unless  he 
has  a  reputation  for  playing  fair.  If  the  college 
officer  is  willing  to  give  the  square  deal,  he  will  have 
gone  a  long  way  toward  solving  his  official  difficulties. 
He  will  sometimes  have  to  listen  to  some  long  stories, 
he  will  have  to  bury  his  prejudices  against  races 
and  individuals,  he  will,  perhaps,  often  have  to  go 
a  long  way  and  suffer  some  inconveniences  to  discover 
necessary  facts,  but,  when  the  college  officer  was  able 
to  show  them  that  he  desired  to  do  the  fair  thing, 
the  college  students  I  have  known  have  for  the  most 
part  been  square,  and  have  been  willing  to  take  with- 
out complaint  or  whimpering  what  was  legitimately 
coming  to  them  for  their  misdeeds. 

The  college  students  I  have  known  will  use  all 
sorts  of  subterfuge  to  shield  a  fellow  student,  but 
they  will  usually  tell  the  truth  about  themselves. 
There  are  always  two  sides  to  a  story,  and  it  is  never 
wise  to  reach  a  conclusion  until  both  of  these  have 
been  heard.  Xo  matter  how  damaging  or  convincing 
the  evidence  may  be  with  regard  to  any  question 
under  dispute,  it  is  best  to  hold  one's  judgment  in 
abeyance  until  the  accused  party  has  been  heard  and 
given  a. chance  to  defend  himself.  Only  a  few  days 
ago  a  woman  called  me  on  tlie  telephone  to  settle  a 
dispute  with  reference  to  an  alleged  agreement  which 
she  liad  had  with  a  student.  ''  Should  not  a  student 
who  has  rented  a  room  for  a  semester,  and  who  leaves 
before   the   end  of  his  contract,  pay   for   the   whole 


12  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

semester  ?  "  she  asked.  "  Ordinarily,  yes,"  I  replied, 
"  but  I  slioTild  like  to  talk  to  the  student  before  an- 
swering." When  I  did  so,  I  found  that  in  reality 
the  woman  had  violated  her  contract,  but  wanted  still 
to  hold  the  student  to  his. 

One  of  the  things  that  has  impressed  me  most 
in  the  pretty  wide  experience  which  I  have-  had  with 
college  discipline  is  that  no  two  cases  are  alike,  be- 
cause no  two  men  are  alike.  Tliere  is  always  some- 
thing new  coming  up  —  new  character,  a  new  view- 
point, new  conditions,  a  new  view  of  temptation  and 
weakness.  The  work  can  never  become  mechanical 
because  of  its  infinite  variety.  One  might  think,  if 
he  did  not  know,  that,  having  seen  fifty  men  during 
a  year  on  fifty  different  sorts  of  wrongdoing,  there 
would  1)0  nothing  now,  and  tliat  the  next  A^ears  would 
be  a  repetition  of  the  old  stories,  hut  it  is  not  tnie. 
Every  case  of  discipline  which  I  have  had  to  do  with 
was  a  special  case.  T  have  found,  too,  that  women 
up  for  discipline  are  not  at  all  like  men.  T  have  not 
for  years  had  any  direct  connection  with  the  discipline 
of  women,  that  work  being  done  by  a  committee  of 
women,  as  I  think  it  best  pcrliaps  that  it  sliould  be. 
The  experience  which  T  did  have,  however,  led  me  to 
the  conclusion  that  they  are  less  fratik  than  men, 
loss  likely  to  tell  the  trutli  if  thoy  have  done  wrong 
than  men  are,  because  tliey  are  more  nervous,  more 
temperamental,  and  have  more  to  lose,  as  society  is 
now  constituted,  than  men  have,  if  they  should  be 
detected  in  wrongdoing. 

I  have  come  to  look  upon  the  work  of  discipline 
in  a  somewhat  different  light  tlian  T  did  during  the 
first  few  years  I  had  to  do  with  it.     At  first  it  took 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  13 

all  the  courage  and  force  of  will  that  I  could  summon 
to  recommend  discipline  of  any  sort,  and  especially 
the  dismissal  of  a  student  from  college.  It  is  no 
small  matter  to  send  a  young  fellow  from  college  in 
disgrace.  As  time  has  gone  on  I  have  realized  more 
clearly  the  effect  of  discipline  upon  the  indivdual, 
and  I  have  seen,  too,  that  the  parent  quite  as  often 
as  the  child  is  at  fault,  and  needs  the  shock  which 
discipline  brings.  When  one  sees  the  fathers  he 
often  feels  like  being  more  lenient  with  the  sons. 

A  young  fellow  who  has  been  detected  in  a  violation 
of  college  regulations,  whether  it  be  a  case  of  cribbing, 
or  gambling,  or  stealing,  or  wliatever  it  may  be, 
almost  invariably  thinks  first  of  his  parents,  usually 
of  his  mother.  I  have  remarked  often,  not  as  a  jest, 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  one  parent  at  least,  and 
often  both,  of  most  of  the  students  with  whose  dis- 
cipline I  have  been  connected  for  a  good  many  years 
has  been  in  the  most  critical  pliysical,  mental,  or 
financial  condition, —  a  condition  which  the  boy 
thinks  will  end  in  a  complete  breakdown  if  the  par- 
ents liear  of  the  son's  disgrace.  I  liave  often  won- 
dered why  such  critical  situations  do  not  more  often 
keep  sons  within  the  narrow  path. 

"  It  will  break  my  mother's  heart,"  I  am  told 
over  and  over  again  by  boys  who  think  they  are  utter- 
ing tbe  truth,  and  though  this  fact  is  no  logical  argu- 
ment if  the  punishment  is  deserved,  and  the  good  of 
tbe  University  community  is  to  be  furthered,  I  have 
come  to  know  that  it  is  not  true.  "  If  I  am  sent 
home,"  boys  say  to  me,  "  it  will  mean  that  my  educa- 
tion is  at  an  end,  and  tbat  my  father  will  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  me  further."     I  have  had  fathers  and 


14  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

mothers  tell  me  that  if  their  son  were  dismissed,  they 
would  disown  him,  and  though  this  may  sometimes 
happen,  I  have  never  yet  known  a  parent  who, 
when  the  actual  crisis  arrived,  did  not  come  to  the 
support  of  his-  child.  A  short  time  ago  1  thought  I 
had  found  an  exception,  but  the  later  details  proved 
that  I  was  mistaken.  A  father  and  mother  sat  in 
my  office  and  talked  to  an  only  son  who  was  about  to 
be  dismissed  for  irregularity  of  conduct.  Both  said 
to  him  firmly  that  if  he  were  sent  home,  he  need 
never  appeal  to  them  for  help  or  support;  they  were 
through  with  him  for  all  time.  He  was  finally  dis- 
missed, but  I  was  interested  to  learn  very  shortly 
that  he  was  sent  to  a  neigliboring  state  university, 
and  that  he  was  receiving  generous  monthly  allow- 
ances from  home. 

I  recall  another  student  dismissed  for  hazing. 
His  case  appealed  to  me  at  the  time  because  of  the 
peculiar  circumstances  at  home.  His  parents  were 
both  dead,  and  an  older  brother  with  whom,  be  bad 
many  difficulties,  was  bis  guardian.  This  added 
trouble  tlie  boy  tbougbt  would  estrange  them  com- 
pletely. T  shall  not  soon  forget  his  downcast  and 
hopeless  face  when  be  came  to  say  good-by  to  me.  A 
year  later  lie  told  nie  that  bis  dismissal  from  college 
was  the  best  tbing  tbat  bad  ever  ba]>pened  to  him. 
It  awakened  bini  to  seriousness  of  life;  and  more 
strangely  than  tliat  it  awakened  the  sympathy  of  bis 
brother  and  Ijrouglit  them  more  closely  togetlier  than 
tbey  had  ever  before  l)een.  He  came  back  to  the  TJni- 
versity  at  the  end  of  bis  period  of  suspension,  a  bap])y 
boy  and  a  serious  student,  and  as  1  am  writing  these 
paragraphs,  a  letter  comes  to  me  from  him  written 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  15 

from  a  western  city  where  he  is  now  a  successful  busi- 
ness man,  stronger,  perhaps,  from  the  experiences 
tlirough  which  he  has  gone. 

Another  instance  is  characteristic.  When  a  boy 
is  disciplined,  his  father  is,  of  course,  written.  A 
young  fellow  this  year  disciplined,  but  not  dismissed, 
for  some  minor  divergence  from  the  straight  path, 
showed  me  a  letter  which  he  had  just  received  from 
his  father  relative  to  the  notice  which  the  latter 
htid  received  from  me.  It  was  an  angry,  cruel  note, 
written  on  the  impulse  when  the  chagrined  and  dis- 
appointed parent  was  smarting  under  the  sting  of  his 
son's  disgrace.  In  it  he  said  that  he  was  through 
with  the  boy,  who  if  he  wanted  any  further  educa- 
tion must  himself  earn  it.  He  need  not  come  home, 
he  need  not  ask  further  for  money.  The  boy  was 
stirred  and  determined  to  stay  in  college;  I  Otffered  to 
help  him,  to  lend  him  money  until  he  could  get  work, 
and  suggested  that  I  write  his  father.  It  was  only  a 
few  days  after  I  had  written  until  the  father  came 
to  see  me.  He  was  ashameil  of  his  letter,  but  too 
proud  to  take  back  his  statements  at  once,  but  before 
he  left  me  he  gave  me  a  sum  of  money  adequate  to 
meet  his  son's  expenses  until  the  close  of  the  year, 
\vhich  [  was  to  lend  to  him  with  the  statement  that 
it  came  from  a  friend  who  was  interested  in  his 
welfare,  and  who  wanted  to  help  him  out.  A  little 
later  the  two  wei'e  reconciled,  and  the  story  ended 
happily.  My  first  conclusion,  therefore,  is  that  what- 
ever happens  to  a  boy,  the  folks  at  home  can  be 
counted  on  to  stand  by  him. 

My  experience  has  also  led  me  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  fellow  who  violates  a  college  regulation  or  a 


16  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

moral  principle  and  who  is  not  detected  in  it,  or 
who,  though  detected,  is  allowed  to  go  without  pen- 
alty, is  usually  weakened  in  chaj-acter  by  the  experi- 
ence-or  confirmed  in  his  bad  habits.  I  stumbled  upon 
the  fact  one  day,  early  in  my  experience  as  a  dis- 
ciplinary officer,  that  a  young  fellow  just  entering 
his  junior  year  was  dissipating  his  energies  and 
squandering  his  time  and  money  by  gambling.  When 
I  called  him  to  the  office  he  was  very  much  agitated 
and  begged  for  "■  one  more  chance."  It  wa^  the  old 
story  of  his  "  first  offense."  There  was  the  sick 
mother  at  home  believing  in  her  only  son,  there  was 
the  probable  ruin  of  his  college  career,  there  were  all 
the  stage  effects  which  I  have  since  come  to  recognize, 
and  there  was  the  strong  assurance  that  he  had 
learned  his  lesson,  and  would  give  up  the  habit. 
Since  no  other  students  were  concerned,  I  accepted 
his  word,  and  dropped  the  matter.  I  have  since 
learned  that  he  kept  up  the  practice  at  irregular  in- 
tervals througli  his  college  course,  safe  in  the  feeling 
tli;it  if  he  were  caught  again  he  could  work  upon  my 
fcflings  to  let  him  go  unpunished.  Another  case  is 
tl'nt  of  a  young  man  caught  in  the  act  of  cribbing 
in  an  examination.  Re  seemed  very  penitent,  the 
offense  was  committed  in  an  environment  which  made 
the  temptation  strong,  and  lie  gave  his  word  of  honor 
that  such  an  oflFense  would  not  be  committed  by  him 
again.  Tt  was  not  a  month  before  he  was  again 
defected,  and  his  oidy  excuse  was  that  since  his  error 
had  before  been  condoned,  he  thought  it  would  be 
again.  The  man  who  esca})es  punishment,  who  gets 
awav,  does  not  liave  his  tendencies  to  error  inhihited. 
There  is  for  him  no  deterrent. 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  17 

Men  ultimately  see  this  fact  and  admit  it.  "  The 
best  thing  you  ever  did  for  me,"  one  pf  our  graduates 
said  to  me  not  long  ago,  "  was  to  send  mo  away  from 
college  a  year.  I  thought  at  the  time  tliat  it  was 
severe,  that  it  would  ruin  my  chances  of  finishing 
my  course,  that  it  would  break  off  all  friendly  rela- 
tions between  myself  and  my  parents,  but  it  braced 
me  up;  it  gave  me  the  determination  to  make  good; 
it  made  a  man  of  me." 

I  remember  one  Christmas  morning,  years  ago, 
when  a  young  freshman  and  his  broken,  tearful 
mother  sat  at  my  fireside  trying  to  gather  up  the 
fragments  of  what  seemed  to  them  a  ruined  life  and 
trying  to  gain  courage  to  face  the  world.  The  boy 
had  had  very  meager  resources;  he  had  been  hard 
pressed  not  only  for  the  comfortable,  pleasure-giving 
things  which  most  boys  have,  but  often  even  for  the 
necessities  of  life.  Opportunity  presented  itself,  and 
lie  had  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  steal  from  the 
gymnasium  lockers  of  other  students.  He  had  been 
(letectefl,  arrested,  lodged  in  jail,  and  fined.  Now 
he  was  out  of  college  and  was  going  home.  It  was  a 
sad  hour  we  spent  together  trying  to  look  facts  in  the 
face  and  to  })lan  a  sane  future,  and  it  seemed,  some- 
how, a  pretty  hopeless  liour.  I  urged  liim  to  go 
somewhere  else  and  start  again,  and  he  promised  to 
try.  A  few  years  later  I  received  an  invitation  to 
the  Commencement  exercises  of  a  reputable  western 
college,  and  within  it  a  card  bearing  his  name.  Two 
years  ago  he  came  to  see  me  at  home-coming  time. 
He  had  done  well  in  college,  lie  was  married,  and 
lie  was  doing  what  he  could  to  make  the  world  wiser 
and   better  as  principal  of  a  reputable  high  school. 


18  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

The  discipline  of  which  1  had  unhappily  at  the  time 
been  the  main  cause,  he  came  to  thank  me  for.  It 
liad  been,  he  said,  the  turning  point  in  his  life;  it  had 
stimulated  his  will  and  his  ambition  to  overcome 
obstacles.  He  shook  hands  with  me  as  we  parted 
with  tears  in  his  eyes. 

Another  case  is  similar.  A'arious  articles  had  been 
disappearing  from  the  coat  rooms  at  the  University 
and  from  lodging  houses  about  tlic  campus,  and  I 
began  to  suspect  a  young  sophomore.  He  fell  into 
a  trap  that  was  set  for  liim,  admitted  his  guilt  when 
the  evidence  was  presented  to  him,  and  was  dismissed 
from  college.  He  was  a  fellow  of  some  prominence, 
and  all  sorts  of  efforts  were  made  by  his  friends  to 
have  him  reinstated.  Public  officials,  relatives,  edu- 
cators, and  religious  workers  all  did  what  they  could 
to  have  the  penalty  set  aside,  not  because  the  man  was 
not  guilty,  but  because  of  their  personal  interest  in 
him ;  but  it  did  not  seem  best  that  this  should  be  done. 
1  lost  track  of  him  for  a  while,  and  then  one  day 
he  dropped  into  my  office  to  tell  me  that  the  discipline 
which  had  seemed  so  cniel  to  him  at  the  time  had 
proved  his  greatest  blessing.  It  liad  aroused  him  to 
an  appreciation  of  his  own  moral  danger;  it  had 
caused  him  to  think  as  he  bad  never  done  before,  and 
it  had  made  him  determine  to  get  a  college  education. 
He  had  entered  another  coUege,  had  graduated,  and 
is  now  a  successful  professional  man  in  a  growing  city 
in  Hlinois. 

One  can  not  liave  to  do  with  discipline  long  with- 
out coming  to  realize  to  what  lengths  the  friends  of 
students  will  go  to  influence  college  authorities  to  set 
aside  penalties  which  have  been  imposed.     It  is  not 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  19 

that  these  friends  think  the  student  innocent  of  the 
charge  against  him,  it  is  not  that  they  feel  that  the 
penalty  imposed  is  in  general  too  severe ;  they  simply 
ask  for  special  privilege  and  special  leniency  in  the 
cases  of  their  friends.     They  have  worked  for  the  in- 
stitution; it  owes  them  something  for  this  effort,  and 
they  wish   the  debt  paid  through   the  granting  of 
special    moral    or    intellectual    indulgences    to    their 
friends.     Public  officials  of  all  sorts,  business  men, 
teachers,   and  even   ministers  have   written   me   and 
called  upon  me  to  ask  for  clemency  for  their  friends  . 
and  sometimes  almost  to  demand  it  as  a  right.     For  \ 
the  reason  that  almost  every  penalty  that  is  imposed 
will  be  cliallenged   1   have  learned  that  it  is  wisest 
in  imposing  a  penalty  to  make  it  a  conservative  one 
—  one  mild  enough  reasonably  to  be  defended  and 
justified,  and  then  to  adhere  to  the  conclusion  reached. 
It   invariably  weakens  the   authority  and  the  confi-       , 
dence  in  the  judgment  of  college  officials  when  dis-  y 
ciplinary  penalties  are  frequently  being  set  aside. 

As  a  rule  the  man  himself  who  is  disciplined  takes 
his  punishment  without  whining;  he  accepts  a  just 
penalty,  admits  his  error,  and  generally  comes  in  to 
say  good-by  to  me  and  to  ask  me  to  write  a  some- 
what detailed  explanatory  letter  to  his  mother,  to 
give  her  all  the  facts  and  to  show  her  that  he  is  not 
wholly  bad.  But  parents  seldom  accept  the  punish- 
ment of  their  children  as  just.  They  have  the  general 
attitude  of  a  father  who  talked  to  me  a  year  or  two 
ago  concerning  an  attack  by  students  upon  one  of 
our  local  theaters.  "  When  I  read  the  account  in 
one  of  our  local  papers  of  the  dreadful  things  those 
students  did,"  he  said,  "  I  spoke  right  out.     If  1  had 


20  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

to  deal  with  those  students,  I  should  expel  every  one 
of  them,  but  when  later  I  saw  that  my  son  had  been 
caught,  I  said,  '  Why,  poor  Victor,  he  is  a  good  boy. 
They  surely  will  not  punish  Victor.'  "  He  brought 
every  sort  of  influence  to  bear  upon  us,  and  even  tried 
to  persuade  his  son  to  falsify  as  to  the  facts;  but 
Victor  was  guilty,  and  had  to  go.  The  disciplining 
of  the  parents  and  friends  of  students  is  a  far  more 
difficult  and  trying  task  than  meting  out  justice  to 
undergraduates,  but  it  comes  in  as  a  part  of  tlie  day's 
work. 

It  has  never  seemed  wise  to  me  to  convict  a  student 
of  dishonesty  or  of  any  otber  misdemeanor  wholly 
upon  circumstantial  evidence,  no  matter  how  complete 
or  convincing  the  evidence  may  have  been.  If  it  has 
been  done  we  have  usually  lived  to  regret  it.  I  should 
rather  let  a  guilty  man  go  tlian  to  convict  an  innocent 
/  one.  Not  long  ago  we  had  reported  from  one  of 
''•  the  courses  in  civil  engineering  a  case  of  alleged 
cribbing.  The  young  fellow  accused  denied  all  guilt 
and  did  so  in  such  a  straightforward  way  that  I  wa.s 
convinced  he  was  telling  the  truth.  lie  had  used  in 
one  of  his  answers,  and  had  used  it  incorrectly,  a 
table  so  long  and  so  complicated  that  it  seemed  quite 
impossible  that  he  could  have  obtained  it  anywlicre 
excepting  by  consulting  a  book.  The  instructor  in 
the  course  felt  that  it  was  inconceival)le  that  a  man 
before  going  to  a  (]uiz  could  commit  to  memory  such 
a  long  list  of  figures.  There  wito  six  columns, 
twelve  items  in  a  column,  and  scvt'ii  figures  in  each 
item  —  a  total  of  five  hundred  and  four  digits  to  l)e 
remembered  in  onler.  We  deliberated  a  long  time; 
the  student's  previous  record  had  not  been  good,  and 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  21 

it  looked  as  if  he  had  to  be  guilt3\  He  protested 
strongly  that  he  had  written  the  table  from  memory. 
Finally  one  member  of  the  committee  turned  to  the 
boy.  "  You  say  you  committed  this  to  memory  in  the 
belief  that  you  might  get  it  in  the  examination  ? " 
"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  I  can  commit  almost  anything  at 
sight."  "  Do  you  think  you  could  repeat  the  table 
now?  "  "  I  believe  so,"  he  said  hesitatingly.  It  was 
three  weeks  since  he  had  had  the  test,  but  he  dropped 
Ills  head  for  a  moment  and  then  began.  "  I'll  read 
the  figures  across,"  and  he  did  so  haltingly  but  sureh', 
and  in  the  five  hundred  and  four  digits  he  made  an 
error  in  but  two.  I  think  I  shall  never  vote  to  con- 
vict any  one  on  circumstantial  evidence  again. 

I  have  had  so  many  varying  experiences  with  under- 
graduates and  their  escapades  and  irregularities  that 
1  have  come  often  to  have  a  sort  of  intuition  as  to 
wliat  has  happened  as  soon  as  I  talk  to  the  student. 
Two  instances  of  this  will  suffice  to  illustrate  my 
point.  In  one  of  tlic  large  laboratories  in  chemistry 
an  instructor  became  suspicious  that  certain  students 
were  collaborating  in  their  experiments,  and  were 
not  performing  all  of  them.  It  was  thought  that 
each  man  was  doing  a  part  of  them,  and  that  the 
others  were  working  them  up  from  his  data,  changing 
the  data  very  slightly  to  avoid  suspicion.  [  called 
the  men  and  talked  to  each  of  them  alone,  as  is  my 
custom,  before  bringing  them  to  the  committee. 
Wlien  tlie  committee  saw  them  their  explanations  were 
-0  clear  and  direct  as  to  when  and  how  they  had  done 
tlieir  experiments  that  the  unanimous  recommenda- 
lifin  was  that  tlie  case  against  them  be  dismissed.  A 
night  intervened  before  I  could  take  the  reconimenda- 


22  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

tion  to  our  Council  for  confirmation,  as  is  required 
by  our  rules,  and  during  this  time  I  had  recurring 
to  me  constantly  the  feeling  that  one  of  the  men  at 
least  was  guilty.  I  held  up  the  recommendation  long 
enough  to  have  another  interview  with  him.  At  this 
interview  I  said  to  him  that  though  the  members  of 
our  committee  had  believed  his  story  and  thought 
him  innocent,  as  I  had  thought  over  his  manner  of 
giving  his  evidence  1  was  convinced  that  he  was 
guilty,  that  without  the  other  man's  knowledge,  he 
had  had  access  to  his  data  and  had  copied  liis  ex- 
periment. My  frankness  seemed  to  make  an  appeal 
to  him,  and  he  confessed  that  my  surmises  were  cor- 
rect. 

One  of  the  merchants  near  the  campus  not  long 
ago  had  a  number  of  cheeks  presentexi  to  him  which 
turned  out  to  be  forgeries.  The  custom  of  taking 
any  one's  check  is  so  common  with  our  local  mer- 
chants that  it  is  usually  imj)ossiblc  to  remember  who 
passed  such  checks  when  finally  they  are  detected. 
As  usual  he  brought  these  checks  —  three  of  them  — 
to  me,  to  see  wliat  1  could  make  of  them.  They  all 
bore  the  name  of  a  well  known  student,  but  when  1 
compared  his  writing  with  that  of  the  signature  on 
the  checks,  though  there  was  a  similarity,  there  was 
no  doul)t  that  the  signatures  were  forged.  It  was 
evident  to  me,  however,  that  the  man  who  had  com- 
mitted the  forgery  had  been  familiar  with  the  student 
whose  signature  he  had  forged,  that  he  knew  his  sig- 
nature, the  name  of  his  hank,  and  something  of  the 
amount  of  money  he  was  accustomed  to  keep  on 
deposit.  "  Who  is  your  room-mate  now?  ''  1  asked  the 
]nan  whose  bank  account  had  been  threatened,  "  and 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  23 

who  was  your  room-mate  last  year  ?  "  As  soon  as 
he  had  named  his  room-mate  of  the  previous  year,  I 
was  completely  convinced  that  I  had  found  the  guilty 
man.  I  had  in  fact  had  an  interview  with  him  that 
very  morning,  and  I  knew  something  of  the  financial 
difficulties  he  had  been  in,  and  I  felt  strongly  the 
weakness  and  shiftiness  of  his  character.  Before 
calling  him  I  got  from  his  English  teacher  his  last 
theme,  and  I  looked  up  his  study  list  which  bore 
his  penmanship  and  his  signature.  When  I  com- 
pared these  papers  with  the  forged  signature  I  found 
two  or  three  things  which  interested  me.  The  color 
of  the  ink  was  identical  in  all  cases,  the  form  of  sev- 
eral letters  was  the  same,  and  the  general  slant  of 
the  letters  was  similar. 

After  I  had  gone  over  these  things  in  my  own  mind 
I  called  the  suspected  student  and  told  him  the  whole 
story.  I  presented  him  with  the  evidence  which  I 
had,  laid  the  forged  signatures  and  the  samples  of  his 
own  writing  before  him,  and  said  to  him  quite  frankly 
that  I  thought  he  had  written  the  forged  checks.  He 
turned  quite  white  as  I  was  talking;  when  I  had 
finished  he  dropped  his  head  upon  the  desk  for  a 
moment  and  then  looking  me  in  the  eye  he  said,  "  I 
did  do  it."  I  presume  that  in  reality  T  had  little  or 
no  convincing  evidence  against  him.  It  was  purely 
a  matter  of  knoAving  the  man  and  feeling  that  he  was 
the  guilty  one.  It  is  a  sort  of  feeling  which  it  would 
be  dangerous  to  rely  upon,  and  yet  it  has  got  me  out 
of  a  corner  many  and  many  a  time. 

There  is  much  in  the  experience  of  a  college  officer 
as  closely  connected  with  discipline  as  I  am  to  make 
one  cvnieal  and  to  cause  him  to  lose  faith  in  human 


24  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

nature;  all  that  is  low  aiitl  unclean  and  dishonest  in 
students  I  am  daily  coming  in  contact  with.  Yet  I 
am  constantly  having  experiences  that  show  me  that 
men  are  still  honest  and  conscientious  and  manly. 
One  busy  day  a  few  years  ago  I  received  an  urgent 
letter  from  one  of  our  graduates  who  had  been  out 
only  a  few  months  asking  me  to  name  a  time  when  I 
could  see  him  on  an  important  and  private  matter. 
The  case  was  urgent,  he  assured  me,  and  the  inter- 
view meant  much  to  him.  He  came  in  a  day  or  two 
and  told  me  his  story.  When  entering  the  University 
he  had  transferred  from  another  college.  By  some 
curious  error  the  registrar  of  the  college  from  which 
he  had  transferred  had  entered  upon  his  record  credit 
for  a  subject  which  he  had  never  taken.  He  had  let 
the  error  go  without  mentioning  it,  the  subject  had 
been  transferred  to  his  University  credits,  and  he  had 
used  it  toward  graduation.  The  whole  mistake  had 
arisen  through  no  direct  act  of  liis  own,  and  he  had 
weakly  let  it  go.  The  deceit  liad  weiglied  constantly 
upon  his  conscience  until  he  could  bear  it  no  longer. 
He  was  quite  willing  to  relinquish  his  diploma  or  to 
reenter  the  L^niversity  and  make  up  the  amount 
which  h;id  been  falsely  credited  to  him.  I  thought 
that  perhaps  there  miglit  be  some  other  solution  of 
the  matter  and  went  over  his  college  credits  with 
that  hope  in  mind.  I  found  to  my  satisfaction  that 
by  a  slight  readjustment  of  his  work  the  surplus 
credits  could  be  discarded,  and  tiiat  he  still  had  credits 
enough  honestly  earned  to  meet  the  requirement  for 
graduation.  I  sent  him  home  happy,  and  so  far  as  1 
know,  he  and  I  are  the  only  ones  who  know  all  the 
details  of  the  story. 


DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT  25 

Two  years  ago  I  had  another  experience  with  a 
young  fellow  caught  in  a  really  serious  college  esca- 
pade, which  strengthened  materially  my  faith  in 
liuman  nature.  It  was  a  situation  in  which  the  boy 
knew  that  if  he  told  the  truth  he  would  be  per- 
manently dismissed  from  college.  I  knew  all  the 
details  of  the  case,  but  this  fact  he  was  not  aware 
of.  In  spite  of  the  penalty  which  he  knew  would 
be  inflicted,  and  ignorant  of  what  I  already  knew 
he  told  our  committee  as  frank  and  straightforward 
a  story  as  I  have  ever  heard,  and  though  his  father  is 
a  man  of  wide  influence  in  the  community  in  which 
he  lives,  the  boy  accepted  his  punishment  in  a  thor- 
oughly manly  fashion  and  left  me  with  the  most 
friendly  feeling.  It  gave  me  the  greatest  satisfaction 
a  few  months  ago  to  be  able  to  write  him  that  because 
of  his  truthfulness  and  because  of  the  manly  way  in 
which  he  had  received  his  punishment,  our  Council 
had  reconsidered  its  action  in  the  case  and  would 
allow  him  to  return  to  the  University  next  fall  —  an 
action  wliich  had  been  taken  in  reference  to  no  other 
similar  offender  in  ten  years. 

I  was  walking  across  the  campus  one  bright  spring 
morning  not  many  years  ago  when  I  came  upon  a 
young  sophomore  sitting  on  the  senior  bench.  "  I 
thought  you'd  be  along  soon,"  he  said,  "  and  so  I  was 
waiting  for  you."  "  What  can  I  do  for  you,  Kalph  ?  " 
T  asked.  "  Well,"  he  answered,  "  I  was  drunk  la.st 
night,  and  I  had  to  tell  some  one;  so  I  thought  I'd 
tfll  you."  The  sequel  doesn't  matter  so  much,  I  sup- 
pose. I  am  glad  to  be  convinced  daily  that  there  are 
.-till  honest  men  in  college  —  men  who  have  courage 
to  tell  the  truth  even  when  the  truth  brings  public 


26  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

disgrace  to  them,  men  who  are  willing  to  confess  their 
faults  even  when  such  confession  means  dismissal. 

I  seldom  lose  track  of  the  fellows  who  for  one 
reason  or  another  have  been  disciplined  by  the  Uni- 
versity. Even  if  their  dismissal  is  a  permanent  one 
they  write  to  me,  or  send  me  messages,  or  drift  at  in- 
tervals in  a  friendly  way  across  my  path.  I  count 
them  among  my  closest  and  warmest  friends.  Only 
this  afternoon  one  of  them  called  me  up  to  ask  a  few 
words  of  advice  and  to  make  a  kindly  inquiry  about 
my  health.  There  is  lying  in  my  basket  of  un- 
answered correspondence  one  of  the  kindest  letters  I 
ever  received  from  a  boy  whom  I  was  instrumental  in 
sending  away  from  the  University. 

There  is  never  a  Christmas  that  I  do  not  hear  from 
some  of  the  once  derelicts  who  send  me  good  wishes 
or  the  baby's  picture.  It  gives  me  the  greatest 
pleasure  to  know  that  these  men  are  almost  without 
exception  doing  a  man's  work  in  a  manly  way,  and 
that  out  of  their  discipline  has  come  for  them  a  real 
strength  of  character. 


THE  BORROWER 

When  I  used  to  lie  awake  at  night  and  try  to  devise 

moans:  of  disposing  of  the  money  which  I  should  make 
I)y  writing  a  book  or  through  my  investments  in  oil 
stock,  one  of  the  philanthropic  plans  which  sug- 
gested itself  to  me  most  frequently  of  getting  rid  of 
my  spoils,  was  to  found  a  loan  fund  for  needy 
stndents  by  which  boys  with  ambition  and  no  finan- 
cial backing  should  be  able  to  borrow  money  easily 
to  complete  a  college  education.  T  had  been  desper- 
ately hard  up  myself  as  an  undergraduate,  and  I  had 
a  more  than  ordinarily  sympathetic  feeling  for  others 
in  the  same  situation  and  a  desire  to  mitigate  their 
pain.  T  know  a  good  deal  more  about  the  college 
borrower,  however,  than  1  did  twenty  years  ago,  and 
though  I  still  believe  in  college  loan  funds,  I  am 
not  so  sure  as  T  once  was  that  money  or  an  education 
too  easily  obtained  is  always  higldy  vahied.  T  have 
found  that  not  all  of  the  young  fellows  in  college  who 
are  willing  to  borrow  money  deserve  to  be  helped,  and 
that  many  who  most  deserve  help  are  unwilling  to 
borrow.  1  have  seen  the  college  borrower  in  a  new 
light,  ft  so  happens  that  my  official  position  has 
given  me  an  unusual  opportunity  to  observe  two 
classes  of  men  in  college  who  want  to  be  helped  out 
of  financial  holes:  those  who  have  come  to  me  for 
personal  and  immediate  help  because  I  seem  good- 
natured  and  easy,  and  those  who  come  to  me  as  an 

27 


28  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

official  of  the  University,  who  for  some  years  has  had 
general  charge  of  tlie  University  loan  funds.  I  have 
gained  the  confidence,  also,  of  not  a  few  soft-hearted 
friends  who  liave  at  one  time  or  another  yielded  to 
the  touch  of  the  indigent  undergraduate,  and  who 
have  told  nic  whether  they  have  lived  to  regret  their 
momentary  and  monetary  weakness  or  to  rejoice  tliat 
the  chance  had  heen  given  them  to  help  a  needy  and  a 
worthy  youth.  From  tliese  two  experiences  I  have 
accumulated  a  considerahle  hody  of  experience  and 
have  formulated  generalizations. 

Our  loan  funds  at  the  University  of  Illinois  are 
safeguarded  hy  numerous  regulations  and  restric- 
tions so  that  it  is  not  possible  for  an  undergraduate 
who  finds  himself  out  of  funds  in  the  morning  to 
negotiate  a  loan  from  his  alma  mater  before  evening. 
The  prospective  borrower  must  fill  out  an  application 
blank,  he  must  give  references,  he  must,  in  most 
cases,  offer  security  and  must  submit  the  names  of 
at  least  two  persons  who  know  him  and  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  individual  whose  name  he  offers 
as  security  for  the  repayment  of  his  loan.  All  this 
takes  time  —  sometimes  it  requires  a  month  for  all 
the  preliminaries  to  be  gone  through,  for  few  people 
answer  letters  promptly,  and  some  otherwise  good 
citizens  never  answer  thcni  at  all,  and  so  possibly  save 
themselves  considerable  l)othcr,  as  do  tliose  worthy 
though  unprogressive  individuals  who  refuse  to  in- 
stall a  telephone.  The  borrower  who  has  not  made 
his  plans  sufficiently  far  ahead  of  time  is  sometimes 
annoyed  by  what  he  considers  unnecessary  red  tape 
and  inexcusable  delay.  A  young  fellow  called  on  me 
only  a  few  weeks  ago  wishing  to  get  help  from  one 


THE  BORROWER  29 

of  our  loan  funds.  His  monthly  check*  had  not  come, 
he  had  an  engagement  out  oi'  town,  lie  needed  thirty 
dollars  immediately,  and  he  wanted  to  catch  the  after- 
noon train.  When  I  explained  to  him  that  our  loan 
funds  were  not  primarily  to  relieve  such  cases  of 
distress  as  he  presented,  but  even  if  we  should  be 
willing  to  make  a  loan  to  him  it  would  take  at  least 
two  weeks  and  possibly  a  month  to  get  it  approved, 
he  was  quite  disgusted,  and  went  out  of  my  office 
muttering  anathemas  against  the  system. 

Tlie  undergraduate  wlio  borrows  money  is  usually 
inexperienced  in  financial  matters.  He  has  estab- 
lished nothing  that  resembles  credit,  he  is  ignorant 
of  all  such  things  as  interest  and  security  and  dis- 
count except  as  he  may  liave  come  into  contact  with 
the  terms  while  pursuing  the  study  of  arithmetic  in 
the  grades.  He  has  seldom  signed  a  promissory  note 
before,  and  he  usually  signs  this  first  one,  unless 
some  one  insists  otherwise,  without  reading  it.  He 
is  told,  perhaps,  that  the  note  bears  five  per  cent, 
interest  from  date  and  tliat  it  will  fall  due  in  two 
years  and  eight  months.  This  fact,  however,  is  not 
likely  to  make  any  serious  impression  upon  his  mind 
excepting  that  it  seems  a  sufficiently  safe  distance 
in  the  future  to  cause  him  no  immediate  uneasiness  or 
worry.  T  have  never  known  more  than  a  half  dozen 
student  l)orrowers  who  got  the  date  of  the  maturity 
of  their  note  so  definitely  in  mind  as  to  be  sure  of  it 
without  a  notification  from  tiie  bursar.  It  is  true 
that  all  of  our  regulations  and  requirements  are  down 
in  black  and  white  and  are  given  to  every  student  to 
be  read  when  he  applies  for  a  loan,  and  though  he 
affirms  when  he  makes  application  for  his  loan  that 


30  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

he  has  read  these  regulations,  and  though  I  have  no 
doubt  he  goes  over  them,  they  seldom  make  any  last- 
ing impression  upon  him. 

Most  students  have  the  feeling  that  it  should  be 
easier  in  a  college  town  to  borrow  money  not  only 
from  the  college  itself,  but  from  private  individuals, 
than  in  any  other  community.  The  contrary  of  this 
is  in  fact  true,  for  men  with  money  who  live  in  a 
college  to^Ti  have  had  more  experiences  in  lending  it 
and  more  opportunities  to  lend  it  to  undergraduates 
than  have  other  people  and  have  learned  sometliing 
from  that  experience.  Every  week  almost  througli- 
out  the  college  year  some  student,  down  in  his  finan- 
cial luck,  often  a  man  whom  T  have  never  seen  before 
on  his  first  registration  day,  comes  cheerfully  and  con- 
fidently into  my  office  and  asks,  "  Could  you  tell  the 
name  of  some  one  in  town  who  would  lend  me  some 
money  ?  " 

"Can  you  give  security?"  T  inquire.  He  sel- 
dom knows  what  T  mean  by  the  term,  but  when  I 
ex])lain  T  find  almost  invariably  that  he  can  not,  so 
tbat  tlie  banks  are  out  of  the  question.  I  generally 
explain  to  such  a  man  that  tlie  place  for  him  to  get 
money  is  at  home  where  he  has  friends,  where  people 
know  him,  and  where,  if  he  has  lived  a  steady,  depend- 
able life,  there  are  no  doubt  tbose  who  would  be 
willing  to  trust  him;  but  he  generally  leaves  me  dis- 
contented and  disappointed. 

T  am  surprised  often,  too,  at  the  optimism  of  many 
of  tbose  who  wish  to  borrow.  Fellows  wlio  have  not 
been  able  to  save  anything  in  the  past  are  eager  to 
tax  the  future,  confidently  expecting  that  what  has 
proved  impossible  this  year  will  offer  no  difficulties 


THE  BORROWER  31 

next.  A  man  came  into  my  office  last  fall  and  said 
that  he  would  lik'e  very  much  to  enter  college.  He, 
however,  had  no  money  and  his  entrance  was  de- 
pendent entirely  upon  his  ability  to  borrow  a  sum 
sufficient  to  carry  him  through  the  year.  He  was 
not  3oung  —  was  in  fact,  I  discovered  by  inquiry, 
twenty-eight  years  of  age.  He  had  been  out  of  high 
school  eight  years,  had  had  a  fair  position  during  all 
that  time,  was  without  responsibilities  excepting  to 
t^ke  care  of  himself,  but  lie  liad  not  saved  a  cent; 
he  did  not  have  enough  money  to  pay  our  matricu- 
lation and  incidental  fees,  which  are  in  reality  trifli-ng. 

I  told  him  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  Uni- 
versity to  lend  him  money,  because  it  now  has  a 
regulation  that  no  loans  are  available  to  students 
until  they  have  been  in  residence  for  at  least  one 
year,  but  T  went  further  to  show  him  that  if  he  had 
only  himself  to  support,  and  had  held  a  good  position 
for  so  many  years  without  saving  a  little  .money  at 
least,  so  far  as  any  loan  was  concerned  he  was  what 
I  should  call  a  pretty  poor  bet.  Any  individual  or 
institution  would  be  doing  a  foolisli  thing  if  it  lent 
him  money  with  the  idea  that  it  would  within  any 
reasonable  time  be  paid  back. 

The  man  who  does  not  look  ahead  before  he  enters 
upon  any  enterprise  to  determine  liow  he  is  going 
to  complete  what  he  has  undertaken,  as  well  as  the 
undergraduate  who  enters  upon  the  work  of  a  year 
in  college  without  having  determined  upon  some  way 
in  which  he  may  be  able  to  meet  his  expenses,  is 
ordinarily  a  poor  risk.  If  he  borrows  money  he  will 
bo  quite  as  unlikely  to  make  definite  plans  to  pay  it 
back  and  will  come  up  to  the  time  of  the  maturity  of 


32  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

liis  note  witli  hardly  more  than  enough  money  to  pay 
the  interest.  It  is  the  fellow  who  applies  early  for 
his  loan,  who  makes  his  plans  a  reasonable  time  ahead, 
who  usually  proves  to  be  the  best  risk.  A  man  who 
goes  into  debt  should  have  in  mind  at  least  two 
reasonable  ways  for  meeting  his  obligation,  so  that 
if  one  failed  the  other  might  prove  dependable,  just 
as  a  boy  pursued  by  an  angry  bull  in  a  pasture  should 
be  able  to  figure,  as  he  flees  to  safety,  that  if  he  is 
unable  to  climb  over  the  fence  he  may  dodge  under. 
He  should  take  into  consideration,  also,  the  fact  that 
it  is  the  unexpected  usually  that  happens.  The  fel- 
low who  never  had  an  accident  in  his  life,  and  who, 
therefore,  considers  it  unnecessary  to  carry  accident 
insurance  is  often  the  first  to  slip  on  the  stairway  and 
break  a  couple  of  ribs.  The  man  who  borrows  should 
take  into  account  the  ordinary  accidents  and  unex- 
pected exigencies  of  life,  but  it  is  rarely  that  he  does 
do  so. 

The  granting  of  loans  from  the  funds  which  1 
have  to  do  witli  is  usually  restricted  to  students  of 
good  or  excellent  scholarship.  In  presenting  to  the 
University  the  money  for  establishing  one  of  our 
funds,  the  donor  said  specifically : 

"  I  do  not  wish  loans  to  be  granted  from  this 
fund  to  students  simply  because  they  are  ambitious 
and  needy.  I  feel  that  a  great  University  should  give 
special  aid  only  to  those  men  and  women  who  show 
distinct  promise  of  intellectual  power  and  success." 
It  is  true,  however,  that  many  an  undergraduate 
while  having  to  work  for  his  living  in  college  seems 
intellectually  commonplace,  but  if  through  a  loan 
he  is  permitted  to  give  all  of  his  time  to  his  work, 


THE  BORROWER  33 

he  shows  at  once  a  marked  increase  in  intellectual 
power.  I  have  not,  however,  found  that  the  scholas- 
tic standing  of  a  student  is  in  any  dependable  way 
an  index  of  whether  or  not  he  will  show  promptness 
in  the  repayment  of  a  loan.  As  often  as  not  the 
dullard  is  as  conscientious  in  meeting  his  financial 
obligations  as  is  the  high  brow. 

One  significant  fact  has  shown  itself  in  the  col- 
lecting of  loans  due  the  University.  We  have  three 
principal  loan  funds.  From  one  of  these  the  loan  is 
made  to  tlie  individual  student  upon  his  own  personal 
note  without  endorsement  by  a  second  person.  Xotes 
drawn  upon  each  of  the  other  two  funds  require  se- 
curity. Xo  insistence  has  been  made  that  these  last 
notes  be  bankable,  but  only  that  a  second  person  who 
has  been  recommended  as  honest  and  reliable  sign 
them.  Even  when  these  notes  are  not  paid  when  due 
there  is  seldom  an  attempt  made  to  collect  from  the 
security.  In  but  one  instance,  so  far  as  I  now  re- 
member, fhiring  the  twenty  years  that  the  funds  have 
been  available  lias  an  endorser  of  a  note  been  required 
to  pay.  It  is  a  fact,  nevertheless,  that  the  notes  that 
bear  an  endorsement  are  met  with  much  greater 
promptness  and  regularity  than  are  the  other  notes. 
It  is  not  an  exaggeration,  I  believe,  to  say  tliat  the 
unendorsed  notes  run  twice  as  long,  before  they  are 
finally  met,  as  do  those  which  bear  an  endorsement. 
The  man  who  gives  only  his  personal  note  feels  safer, 
knows  usually  that  a  collection  could  with  difficulty 
be  forced,  and  so  feels  justified  in  taking  his  time. 

A  few  years  ago  a  wealthy  friend  of  education 
ofl'ered  to  present  to  the  University  five-hundred  dol- 
lars a  year  to  be  given  to  such  needy  students  as  the 


34  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

University  might  designate  and  in  such  sums  as  might 
be  determined.  This  was  done  for  one  year,  but  the 
effect  upon  the  men  themselves  was  to  my  mind  not  a 
good  one;  they  were  not  stimulated  by  it,  their  self- 
respect  and  self-reliance  were  not  strengthened.  I 
therefore  wrote  the  trustee  of  the  fund  suggesting 
that  the  amount  which  he  should  put  at  our  disposal 
be  lent  to  students,  rather  than  given  to  thom,  at  a 
low  rate  of  interest  for  a  reasonable  period  of  time 
and  upon  its  repayment  that  it  be  used  to  increase 
the  fund  available,  'iliis  was  done,  and  the  effect  in 
my  opinion  has  been  much  more  salutary.  WTiat  we 
get  for  nothing  we  seldom  value. 

The  time  set  for  the  repayment  of  the  loans,  which 
I  am  discussing,  is  two  years  following  the  date  of 
the  borrower's  regular  or  expected  graduation.  It 
has  been  interesting  if  disappointing  to  rae  to  find 
that  only  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  loans  are 
paid  within  that  time ;  if  they  were,  tlie  University 
would  each  year  have  at  its  disposal  nearly  twice  as 
much  money  available  for  loans  as  it  now  has.  The 
time  the  notes  actually  run,  I  have  no  doubt,  if  the 
matter  Avere  investigated,  is  fully  twice  as  long  as  tliat 
agreed  upon.  Most  of  the  loans  are  ultimately  paid, 
for  however  careless  he  may  be  and  however  long 
he  may  delay  tlic  lifpiidation  of  his  debt,  the  college 
borrower  is  innately  honest  and  at  least  means  well. 

There  are  exceptions  to  this  last  statement  of 
course,  one  of  which  T  recall.  T  met  an  old  college 
acquaintance  of  mine  a  few  months  ago.  He  had 
been  graduated  twenty-five  years  or  more,  and  though 
he  had  not  made  any  marked  success  in  his  profes- 
sion,  vet  he  was   in   comfortable   circumstances  and 


THE  BORROWER  35 

without  a  family  depending  upon  him.  He  was  re- 
calling old  friends  and  old  experiences. 

"  You  know  the  President  lent  me  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  in  my  junior  year,"  he  said.  "  I 
suppose  the  debt's  outlawed  long  ago." 

"  Haven't  you  paid  it  ?  "  I  asked  him  in  astonish- 
ment. 

"  No,"  he  replied  quite  nonchalantly.  "  He  never 
pushed  me,  and  so  I  just  let  it  go.  He's  dead  now, 
an^-Avay." 

There  was  no  suggestion  in  his  tone  of  obligation 
or  gratitude  or  shame  for  having  treated  a  friend 
badly ;  and  the  kindly  old  man  who  had  done  him 
the  service  had  lived  a  life  of  sacrifice  and  died  in 
comparative  poverty,  no  one  knowing  how  much  of 
his  savings  had  gone  with  the  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  which  my  college  acquaintance  referred  to. 

The  actual  reasons  why  the  college  borrower  does 
not  pay  are  usually  the  reasons  of  youth,  for  youth  is 
optimistic,  the  future  always  looks  bright;  to-morrow 
is  to  be  a  more  successful  day  than  to-day  has  been. 
There  is  no  coefficient  of  error  introduced  into  his 
calculations  for  the  future,  and  he  seldom  if  ever 
prepares  for  the  worst  or  for  the  unexpected. 

Some  men  are  thoughtless,  careless,  and  indiffer- 
ent. Having  made  an  obligation,  the  fact  passes 
out  of  their  mind  entirely  until  their  attention  is 
called  to  it.  Under  tliese  circumstances  they  are 
quite  unlikely  to  be  in  any  position  to  meet  the  obliga- 
tion because  tiiey   bavc  not  prepared   to  do  so. 

Some,  naturally,  ha\t'  ill-luck.  Their  wages  when 
they  get  to  work  are  lower  than  they  anticipated;  ill- 
ness overtakes  them,  and  a  luxpital  bill,  and  a  doctor's 


36  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

bill  have  to  be  paid ;  unforeseen  calamities  arise  in 
their  immediate  families,  for  which  they  were  not 
prepared,  and  for  which  they  were  not  responsible. 
All  these  things  must  be  taken  for  granted,  and 
expected,  but  they  do  not  indicate  the  usual  nor  the 
normal  condition  of  affairs. 

Other  graduates  fall  into  situations  at  once  in 
wliich  unusual  opportunities  for  investment  present 
themselves.  They  are  thereupon  loath  to  use  their 
money  for  the  payment  of  a  debt  which  seems  to  many 
of  them,  now"  that  the  money  has  been  spent,  very 
much  like  putting  their  earnings  into  a  dead  horse. 
''I  could  have  paid  the  loan  a  long  time  ago,"  one 
man  frankly  wrote  me,  "  but  I  could  get  money  no- 
where else  at  so  low  a  rate  of  interest,  and  my  invest- 
ments were  bringing  me  so  much  more  than  this  that 
T  could  hardly  be  expected  to  withdraw  them  just 
as  I  was  getting  a  financial  start  to  pay  this  debt. 
The  University  can  afford  to  lose  better  than  I 
can." 

A  few  men  take  advantage  of  any  cliance  to  evade 
payment.  T  am  reminded  of  one  of  these  whom  I 
had  personally  helped.  He  was  not  eligil)lo  for  one 
of  our  regular  loans.  He  was  down  financially,  had 
a  chance  to  get  a  good  job  in  a  distant  city,  but  had 
no  money  to  pay  his  transportation.  1  came  to  the 
rescue  and  took  his  personal  note  for  the  thirty-live 
dollars  required  to  carry  him  to  his  destination. 
When  T  wrote  him  a  year  later  suggesting  payment 
of  the  sum  borrowed,  he  replied  that  it  was  at  that 
time  inconvenient  for  him  to  pay;  besides,  he  added, 
the  debt  was  uncollectible  since  he  was  not  of  legal 
age   when    he   signed   the   note.     He   was,    therefore, 


THE  BORROWER  37 

hp  alleged,  at  liberty  to  pay  when  and  if  he  pleased. 
There  are  not  many  like  liim,  thank  heaven. 

It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  of  the  eight  men 
whose  loans  from  one  of  our  funds  are  longest  over- 
due seven  are  lawyers.  Perhaps  their  knowledge  of 
the  law  has  helped  them  in  the  evasion  or  the  neglect 
of  their  ohligations.  Tt  will  at  once  be  said  by  some 
one  that  tlie  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  lies  in 
the  fact  that  lawyers  are  long  in  getting  established, 
and  that  these  men  are  not  making  enough  money  to 
meet  their  oliligations.  that  they  must  spend  what 
they  make  in  order  to  keep  up  a  respectable  appear- 
ance. This  is  a  good  explanation,  but  in  this  case  it 
is  not  the  correct  one.  Of  the  ten  lawyers  whom  I 
have  repeatedly  written  concerning  overdue  accounts 
only  one  has  replied;  no  one  has  paid,  though  all 
are  quite  able  to  pay. 

A  great  many  fail  to  meet  tlieir  obligations  on 
time  because  they  plan  to  pay  in  one  sum  what  they 
have  borrowed.  Almost  every  one  who  goes  out  from 
college  could,  from  the  very  beginning  spare  five  or 
ten  or  fiftoon  dollars  a  month  from  his  salary  and  so 
graduallv  reduce  In's  debt:  but  when  it  conies  to  liav- 
ing  at  hand  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  or  five 
liundred  dollars,  the  situation  becomes  more  comjili- 
cated  if  not  impossible.  Tliere  are  too  many  tempta- 
tions surrounding  the  man  just  ont  of  colloofe  tendiniT 
to  separate  liim  from  liis  money  to  make  it  likely  that 
be  will  have  available  at  one  time  the  total  sum  of 
his  indebtedness.  Tf  he  Iietrins  bv  making  monthly 
payments  lie  will  lie  surprised  liow  quickly  the  debt 
will  be  cancelled  without  any  apparent  embarrassment 
to  himself. 


38  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

But  the  excuses  already  given  explain  only  a  small 
percentage  of  the  cases  where  notes  are  not  met  at 
the  time  of  maturity.  Far  and  away  the  largest 
number  of  graduates  who  fail  to  meet  their  notes 
when  they  become  due  give  matrimony  as  the  only 
excuse.  Whether  the  self-supporting  student  who 
must  borrow  while  he  is  in  college  is  after  he  gradu- 
ates less  experienced  in  the  affairs  of  the  heart  or 
more  sentimental  than  the  average,  it  is  a  fact  that  he 
is  the  first  to  gather  his  family  gods  under  his  own 
roof-tree,  and,  ignoring  or  forgetting  his  former 
obligations,  to  take  to  himself  a  wife.  It  has  be- 
come quite  a  habit  with  me  now,  when  a  former 
student  does  not  pay  his  loan  when  it  becomes  due, 
to  suppose  that  he  has  married,  or  knowing  that 
he  has  married  and  that  his  regular  monthly  pay- 
ments have  ceased,  to  surmise  that  his  family  has 
increased  in  size,  and  my  supposition  is  nearly  always 
correct. 

A  few  years  ago  I  found  in  the  morning  mail  an 
appealing  letter  from  a  former  undergraduate.  He 
had  been  out  of  work  for  some  time  until  all  his 
funds  had  gone.  Xow,  however,  he  had  found  a  good 
job.  His  only  trouble  was  that  he  did  not  have  at 
hand,  nor  could  he  get,  sufficient  money  to  meet  the 
most  simple  living  expenses  until  he  should  obtain  his 
first  month's  i)ay.  Would  I  not,  remembering  our 
former  friendship,  let  him  have  twenty-five  dollars 
until  pay  day,  and  thus  virtually  save  his  life?  I 
sent  him  a  check  for  the  amount  asked  for,  but  did 
not  hear  from  him  for  months.  1  wrote  him  two  or 
three  times,  but  even  my  letters  brought  me  no  re- 
spouse.     Then  one  day  when  1  was  in  the  city  I  called 


THE  BORROWER  39 

him  up  on  the  telephone  and  inquired  courteously 
why  I  had  not  heard  from  him.  He  seemed  reluctant 
at  first  to  give  me  any  definite  explanation,  assured 
me  that  it  had  been  his  specific  intention  to  write 
me  that  very  day,  and,  finall}'^,  when  pressed  admitted 
that  he  married  immediately  following  the  receipt  of 
my  check  and  added  that  I,  being  married  myself, 
could  well  understand  that  the  necessity  of  buying 
furniture  and  establishing  a  home  left  him  no  sur- 
plus to  meet  obligations  previously  incurred.  I  un- 
derstood perfectly.  Incidentally  I  have  not  yet  re- 
ceived my  money,  thougli  I  have  had  a  postal  card 
picture  of  the  new  baby  and  a  brief  line  from  father 
indicating  that  he  expected  soon  to  send  me  a  remit- 
tance. 

A  few  quotations  from  tliose  who  have  assumed 
later  matrimonial  obligations  will  illustrate  the  ex- 
cuses I  receive  for  delayed  payments:  "My  wife's 
liospital  bill  has  added  an  extra  burden  during  the 
last  year,"  one  man  writes :  "  I  am  to  be  married  in 
December,"  says  another,  "  and  do  not  find  myself 
financially  where  I  expected."  "  In  September  after 
my  graduation,"  moans  a  third,  "  I  was  married,  and 
my  salary  was  reduced  to  a  living  wage.  I,  therefore, 
find  it  impossible,"  etc. 

Here  are  a  few  more:  "To  be  frank  with  you,  I 
have  had  money  enough  to  pay  the  loan  at  two  dif- 
ferent times,  but  six  months  ago  1  took  the  best  girl 
in  the  world  in  wedlock."  "If  you  ever  began  life 
on  a  small  salary,  with  some  indebtedness,  in  a  city 
where  the  cost  of  living  is  high,  you  would  appreci- 
ate," etc.  "  My  expenditures  are  those  of  a  married 
man  with  one  child." 


40  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

Matrimony  seems  to  be  thought  an  adequate  excuse 
for  all  sorts  of  financial  delinquencies,  since  fully  sev- 
enty-five per  cent  of  those  students  who  have  availed 
themselves  of  the  advantages  of  our  loan  funds  in  the 
past,  find  it  the  only  excuse  they  have  to  offer  for 
not  meeting  their  obligations  on  time.  So  often  is 
the  excuse  given  that  I  have  recently  had  inserted  in 
the  application  blank  which  students  fill  out  when 
asking  for  a  loan,  this  question,  "  Do  you  contem- 
plate marrying  soon?"  In  all  this  that  I  have  re- 
lated something  seems  to  me  wrong.  Is  it  our  sys- 
tem, or  our  teaching,  or  is  it  that  the  student  who 
makes  the  loan  has  an  inadequate  conception  of  his 
obligation,  or  does  marriage  like  war  constitute  an 
adequate  and  legitimate  excuse  for  a  man's  not  meet- 
ing his  financial  obligations  promptly? 

There  is  another  class  of  borrower,  however,  in  col- 
lege whom  most  undergraduates  who  have  soft  hearts 
and  easy  purse  strings,  and  whom  all  college  officials 
are  acquainted  with.  These  men  are  those  who  do 
not  wish  to  take  advantage  of  the  more  formal  meth- 
ods of  obtaining  help  through  the  regular  loan  funds 
established  by  the  institution,  but  who  are  only  tem- 
porarily insolvent  and  who  are  expecting  ciiecks  on 
the  next  mail  or  legacies  at  the  convening  of  the  next 
term  of  court.  I  had  a  man  ask  me  for  a  loan  once 
who  had  an  aged  grandfather  upon  wlioso  death  he 
was  expecting  rather  generous  returns.  I  had  the 
strength  of  character  to  refuse  the  request,  and 
though  that  was  years  ago,  at  last  reports  grandfather 
was  as  hale  and  hearty  as  ever. 

These  men  seldom  want  a  great  deal,  but  they  want 
it  at  once  to  meet  the  pressing  obligation  or  to  catch 


THE  BORROWER  41 

the  waiting  car.  I  think  I  have  not,  more  than  or- 
dinary men,  found  it  difficult  to  resist  their  plausible 
arguments,  but  my  experience  with  them  has  been 
varied  and  interesting.  They  are  the  harder  to  resist 
because  their  plea  is  so  reasonable  and  their  need  so 
urgent.  I  have  done  business  in  one  way  or  another 
with  a  good  many  of  them  within  the  last  twenty 
years,  and  though  the  most  of  them  have  paid,  so  far 
as  I  now  remember,  only  six  have  strictly  kept  their 
agreements.  Until  a  week  ago  it  was  only  five,  but 
last  week  a  man  to  whom  I  had  lent  thirty  dollars, 
paid  me  three  days  before  he  had  agreed  to  do  so 
and  surprised  and  almost  shocked  me  by  adding 
twenty-five  cents  for  interest. 

"  Do  you  know  where  La  Rue  is  now  and  what  he  is 
doing  ?  "  one  of  my  faculty  friends  asked  me  the  other 
day. 

"  He's  married  and  has  a  good  job  in  Peoria,"  I 
replied."  Wliy  do  you  ask  ?  " 

"  Well,  he  borrowed  a  hundred  dollars  from  me  Just 
before  he  graduated  with  the  understanding  that  it 
was  to  be  paid  within  a  few  months,  and  I've  not  seen 
hide  nor  hair  of  him  since.  If  he  were  hard  up  I  did 
not  want  to  })ress  him,  but  if  he  is  able  to  pay  I 
thought  I  might  as  well  have  the  money  as  he." 

Few  weeks  go  by  that  I  am  not  approached  by  stu- 
dents with  the  request  that  I  endorse  a  note  for  them 
at  the  bank  in  order  that  they  may  make  a  short  time 
loan.  In  my  younger  and  less  experienced  days  I 
used  occasionally  to  do  this  when  I  thought  I  knew 
my  man,  but  after  I  had  paid  a  few  of  these  notes  at 
times  which  were  often  annoyiugly  inconvenient  to 
me,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I  should  under  no 


42  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

circumstances  endorse  a  note  for  a  student  or  any  one 
else  for  that  matter.  If  I  had  the  money  and  felt  so 
inclined  I  might  let  him  have  it,  and  if  I  did  do  this 
it  would  be  with  no  idea  of  being  able  to  count  on  its 
return  at  the  time  he  agreed  to  do  it.  If  he  did  pay 
it  when  lie  agreed  to,  it  was  just  like  finding  it;  if  he 
did  not  I  was  not  surprised.  I  felt  always  in  such  a 
case  as  Josh  Billings  in  his  beatitude  "  Blessed  are 
they  who  expect  nothing,  for  they  shall  not  be  dis- 
appointed ! " 

An  experience  of  this  sort  was  mine  only  a  few 
months  ago.  A  young  fellow  whom  I  knew  very 
slightly  presented  himself  at  my  desk  with  a  promis- 
sory note  in  his  hand  for  forty  dollars  all  filled  out 
and  ready  for  my  signature. 

"  I  can't  do  it,  Mack,"  I  said,  "  I'm  sorry,  but  I've 
paid  my  share  of  that  sort  of  note,  and  I've  sworn 
off." 

"  You  wouldn't  have  to  pay  this  one,"  he  assured 
me. 

"  That's  what  they  all  said,"  I  continued,  "  and  I 
liave  no  doubt  they  honestly  meant  it."  He  seemed 
so  disappointed  and  in  so  difficult  a  place  that  I  was 
rather  sorry  for  him.  "  If  I  should  sign  the  note,"  I 
asked  him,  "how  would  you  meet  it?  \Miere  is  the 
money  coming  from?" 

"  I  have  a  pretty  generous  allowance,"  he  ex- 
plained, "  and  I  am  sure  I  could  easily  pay  ten  dol- 
lars a  month  out  of  it  if  I  could  get  this  money,  and 
I  surely  do  need  it  very  seriously."  I  hesitated  a 
moment  and  then  said, 

"  I'll  lend  you  the  money  myself  and  take  your  note 
for  six   months.     That  ought  to  give  you   plenty  of 


THE  BORROWER  43 

time."  I  gave  him  the  money,  took  his  note,  ana  ne 
left  me.  I  did  not  see  him  again  until  after  the  end 
of  the  six  months  and  then  only  because  I  sent  for 
him.  When  he  came  at  my  call  he  paid  a  part  of  his 
indebtedness,  made  no  explanation  of  his  delay,  prom- 
ised to  pay  the  rest  within  a  few  days,  and  passed  on. 
That  is  the  last  time  I  have  seen  him.  Well,  per- 
haps it  all  went  in  a  good  cause,  for  Mack  joined  the 
army  and  fought  for  his  country.  My  experience 
with  him,  liowever,  is  typical  and  characteristic. 

Some  one  who  reads  this  article  may  say  that  I  am 
over-pessimistic,  that  my  faith  in  the  honesty  and 
promptness  of  the  undergraduate  is  weak,  and  that 
any  inference  drawn  from  the  facts  and  incidents 
presented  herein  would  tend  to  discourage  any  one 
who  might  have  a  tendency  to  help  the  needy  under- 
graduate in  college.  I  hope  that  this  is  not  true. 
No  one  can  surpass  me  in  the  confidence  and  faith 
T  have  in  the  college  man.  I  think  he  will  meet  his 
obligations,  but  I  think  because  of  his  youth  and  in- 
experience that  he  will  seldom  do  so  within  the  time 
that  he  first  sets  for  himself;  and  if  he  can  not  do  so 
he  will  seldom  make  any  explanation  or  offer  any  ex- 
cuse. He  argues  that  if  he  can  not  pay,  it  does  no 
good  just  to  say  so. 

I  believe,  on  the  whole,  that  those  men  who  have 
given  money  to  aid  needy  students  more  readily  to 
finish  their  college  course  have  done  well  —  better 
even  sometimes  than  do  those  who  endow  libraries,  or 
who  erect  fine  buildings  for  educational  purposes,  be- 
cause those  who  aid  the  self-supporting  student  are 
equipping  men  more  quickly,  and  directly  for  life. 
Those,  too,  who  might  otherwise  be  developed  into 


44  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

broad-minded,  cultivated  students,  if  they  have  to 
give  all  their  time  to  earning  a  living,  are'  often  kept 
narrow  and  inefficient  by  the  hard,  cruel  grind.  If 
I  were  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  borrower  in  college 
I  should  do  so  with  my  eyes  open,  I  should  face 
the  actual  facts  which  experience  with  these  things 
had  taught  me,  and  I  should  surround  the  granting  of 
these  loans  with  such  restrictions  as  would  make  them 
comparatively  safe  risks. 

Of  course  if  the  terms  upon  which  loans  are 
granted  by  the  college  are  so  rigid  as  to  make  it  next 
to  impossible  for  the  needy  undergraduate  to  meet 
them,  the  whole  purpose  of  the  loan  is  defeated.  If 
the  student  must  meet  the  conditions  which  a  bank 
imposes  then,  barring  the  fact  that  the  college  loan 
is  usually  made  at  a  somewhat  lower  rate  of  interest 
than  one  must  pay  at  the  bank,  the  borrower  might 
quite  as  well  patronize  his  local  bank.  I  should  not 
make  such  loans  prohibitive,  but  I  should  grant  them 
only  after  a  careful  investigation  and  study  of  the 
character  and  need  of  tlie  prospective  borrower;  for 
after  all  the  main  safeguard  in  making  sucli  a  loan 
is  the  personal  character  of  the  individual  who  is  re- 
ceiving the  loan. 

I  should  very  seldom  lend  money  to  students  imder 
the  junior  year.  If  the  under  classman  must  begin  to 
borrow  ho  is  likely  so  heavily  to  handicap  himself 
with  debt  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  college  course 
that  he  grows  discouraged,  gives  uf)  the  task,  and 
never  graduates.  Tie  is  too  young  usually  to  realize 
the  meniiing  of  debt.  Since  such  a  man  seldom 
graduates,  he.  therefore,  does  not  fit  himself  for  rapid 
advancement  in  any  line  of  work  which  he  may  take 


THE  BORROWER  45 

up,  and  he  finds  it  difficult  to  save  enough  money  be- 
yond his  living  expenses  to  meet  any  considerable 
debt.  The  man  who  does  not  begin  to  borrow  before 
his  junior  or  his  senior  year  can  usually  see  the  end 
not  far  away,  and  he  struggles  on  to  the  finish.  If 
he  does  not  immediately  marry  he  stands  a  good 
chance  of  shortly  paying  up  his  obligation. 

I  believe  in  a  young  man's  marrying  early,  but  or- 
dinarily I  think  he  should  not  do  so  while  he  is  in 
debt.  It  is  not  so  cheap  for  two  to  live  as  one  and 
never  has  been,  and  the  young  fellow  who  takes  a  wife 
faces  the  probability  of  doctor  bills,  of  increasing 
family,  and  of  irregular  employment,  and  these  con- 
ditions are  not  conducive  to  the  payment  of  old  debts. 
For  this  reason,  just  stated,  I  have  usually  hesitated 
to  recommend  a  loan  to  any  applicant  when  it  seemed 
likely  that  he  would  marry  before  his  debt  was  fully 
paid. 

The  loan  most  easily  obtained  is  usually  the  one 
least  appreciated  and  least  likely  to  be  repaid.  I  be- 
lieve it  is  a  good  tiling  for  the  student  who  wishes  to 
avail  himself  of  the  privileges  of  a  college  fund  to  be 
required  to  offer  some  security.  Life  insurance  is  a 
protection  in  case  of  the  borrower's  death,  but  any  one 
who  has  lived  twenty  years  or  more  should  not  find  it 
impossible  to  secure  an  endorser  of  his  note,  a  mem- 
ber of  his  family  or  a  friend,  who  at  least  has  the  rep- 
utation for  honesty  even  if  he  is  not  to  any  large  ex- 
ten  a  property  holder.  The  fact  that  two  names  are 
on  a  note  shows  that  there  is  some  one  who  is  willing 
to  vouch  for  the  borrower's  honesty.  There  is  a  cer- 
tain responsibility  upon  the  student,  also,  to  make 
good,  to  meet  his  obligation,  and  to  justify  himself 


46  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

in  the  eyes  of  the  man  who  trusted  him  sufficiently  to 
put  his  name  to  a  note.  1  used  to  feel  otherwise,  hut 
an  experience  with  hundreds  of  borrowers  has 
changed  my  viewpoint  entirely. 

A  student  should  seldom  borrow,  during  any  year, 
more  than  half  the  amount  necessary  to  meet  his  col- 
lege expenses.  He  should  have  saved  something  from 
his  work  during  the  summer  vacation,  and  if  he  can 
get  no  help  from  home,  he  can  always  find  leisure 
time  which  can  be  profitably  utilized  in  adding  to 
his  income  and  the  use  of  whicli  for  this  purpose  need 
not  interfere  eitlier  with  liis  pleasure  or  his  studies. 
A  small  debt  is  often  an  incentive  to  the  man  just  out 
of  college  to  work  hard  and  save  his  money,  but  a 
heavy  one  is  likely  to  take  most  of  the  joy  out  of  life, 
and  to  discourage  the  debtor  utterly. 

Whether  loans  should  be  made  to  students  with 
high  scholastic  standing  only,  depends  upon  whether 
one  is  interested  mainly  in  scholarship  or  in  citizen- 
ship, and  though  I  should  think  it  unwise  to  put 
much  money  into  the  intellectual  development  of  the 
dullard,  T  should  never  confine  my  beneficences  to 
high-grade  students  only.  The  average  man  is  for 
purposes  of  citizenship  quite  worth  while,  and  quite 
worthy  of  any  help  which  may  be  bestowed  upon  bim. 

T  should  still  like  some  day  to  found  a  loan  fund 
for  needy  students,  but  I  should  not  be  willing  to 
lend  to  every  one  who  asks,  or  even  to  every  one  who 
is  in  real  need.  Sometimes  the  eager  borrower  is 
lazy;  he  is  not  willing  to  work  as  he  might  to  keep 
himself  in  funds.  Sometimes  he  is  inelfieient  and 
lacking  in  initiative,  so  that  he  has  not  been  able  to 
avail  himself  of  opportunities  for  other  sorts  of  help 


THE  BORROWER  47 

which  were  at  hand.  Sometimes  he  has  not  lived 
within  his  means  and  wishes  to  borrow  only  that  he 
mav  live  more  extravagantly  than  he  should.  I 
should  not  want  to  lend  to  any  of  these,  nor  should 
I  make  it  too  easy  even  for  the  best  of  fellows  to 
get  a  loan. 

It  is  a  good  policy  for  the  upperclassman  who  is 
hard  up,  if  he  has  a  definite  purpose  before  him  and 
an  average  mind  and  body,  to  borrow  money  to  get 
him  over  the  last  hard  pull  of  the  senior  year.  I 
have  always  been  sorry  that  I  did  not  myself  borrow 
more.  Had  I  done  so  I  could  have  accomplished 
more  during  my  last  year.  But  the  man  who  bor- 
rows should  really  be  a  man  who  takes  his  obliga- 
tions seriously,  who  meets  them  promptly,  who,  when 
he  gives  his  word,  keeps  it. 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND 
GRAFT 

One  spring  morning  not  long  ago  when  I  came  to 
my  office  to  begin  the  work  of  the  day  I  found,  as  it 
is  quite  common  to  do,  a  young  man  waiting  to  see 
me.  He  was  flushed  ai)d  embarrassed  as  he  entered 
my  private  office,  and  he  asked  ine  if  I  would  consider 
what  he  should  tell  me  in  the  interview  which  w^as  to 
follow  as  entirely  confidential.  He  begged  that  what- 
ever facts  and  names  he  might  divulge  to  me  should 
be  held  strictly  between  ourselves.  I  gave  him  my 
assurance,  and  he  continued  with  his  stoiy.  He  was 
the  manager  of  an  important  undergraduate  enter- 
prise which  necessitated  his  handling  during  the  year 
some  thousands  of  dollars.  One  of  iiis  duties  at  the 
outset  had  been  to  make  a  contract  for  supplies  for 
the  year.  A  friend  of  his,  an  upper  classman,  had 
come  to  him  in  the  fall  and  had  presented  a  proposi- 
tion by  which  each  was  to  receive  a  bonus  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  in  cash,  if  the  contract  should  go  to  a 
definite  local  firm.  He  weakly  and  thoughtlessly 
yielded,  hoping  to  get  out  of  it  or  in  some  way  to  jus- 
tify his  action  to  himself,  and  now  the  contract  had 
been  fulfilled,  and  his  friend  was  urging  him  to  col- 
lect and  divide  the  bonus. 

"  I  have  never  consciously  done  a  dishonest  tln'ng 
in  my  life,"  ho  said  to  me,  "  and  I  some  way  can  not 
bring  myself  now  to  ])r()fit  in  this  irregular  way.  If 
I  take  the  money,  1  shall  feel  myself  a  crook  all  my 

48 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND  GRAFT  49 

life ;  if  I  tell  my  friend  that  I  have  changed  my  mind 
and  do  not  think  it  right  that  we  should  take  this 
money,  he  will  be  sure  that  I  am  not  playing  the 
game  fairly  with  him,  that  I  am  joking,  and  am  in- 
tending to  collect  the  money  and  use  it  all  for  my 
own  benefit." 

I  suggested  to  him  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty 
which  was  quite  satisfactory,  and  he  went  off  relieved 
and  resolved  for  the  future  to  keep  in  the  straight 
path  of  honesty.  His  is  only  one  of  the  many  in- 
stances, which  come  to  my  attention  almost  daily  in 
a  large  educational  institution,  of  the  business  temp- 
tations which  beset  students,  and  of  the  close  rela- 
tionships between  the  undergraduate  and  graft. 

The  unsophisticated  is  likely  to  think  of  the  college 
life  as  a  protected,  shielded  life,  a  life  which  one 
spends  in  the  study  of  books  and  of  nature,  afar  off 
from  the  transactions  and  the  temptations  of  the  sor- 
did business  world.  This  may  be  true  under  certain 
conditions  and  in  certain  institutions,  but  not  in  the 
large  universities  of  the  ^liddle  West. 

In  the  simple  life  of  the  small  college  there  is  lit- 
tle opportunity,  in  the  undergraduate  activities  as 
they  are  carried  on,  for  profit  or  for  dishonesty.  No 
large  amounts  of  money  change  hands,  and  the  stu- 
dents who  have  charge  of  undergraduate  affairs  do 
not  often  have  their  characters  put  to  the  test  of  hon- 
esty. In  my  own  undergraduate  days  there  were 
fewer  than  four  hundred  students  in  the  institution 
in  which  I  was  doing  my  work.  There  was  little 
money  coming  in  from  athletics,  there  was  a  deficit 
in  our  class  annual,  and  no  one  was  paid  for  working 
on  the  college  paper,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  it 


50  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

required  labor  and  finesse  for  the  business  manager 
to  meet  the  bills  for  its  publication,  let  alone  to  pay 
any  one  for  working  upon  it.  We  were  satisfied  to 
gain  experience,  though  if  there  had  been  any  loose 
money  we  should  no  doubt  have  shared  it  eagerly. 
Class  functions  and  class  invitations  and  student  op- 
eras and  plays  and  publications  were  either  not  a  part 
of  our  undergraduate  life  or  else  their  conduct  en- 
tailed such  a  minor  expenditure  of  money  and  was 
so  simple  in  its  nature  that  there  was  no  thought  or 
possibility  of  graft. 

In  an  institution  of  eight  or  ten  thousand  students 
the  case  is  very  different.  The  student  publications 
alone  of  the  University  of  Illinois  last  year  involved 
the  letting  of  contracts  and  the  expenditure  of  money 
to  the  extent  of  ninety  thousand  dollars,  and  practi- 
cally all  of  this  money  was  handled  by  students,  and 
much  of  the  profit  divided  among  them.  The  expen- 
diture of  the  senior  class  for  their  invitations,  and 
ball,  and  breakfast,  and  class  hats,  and  commence- 
ment caps  and  gowns  would  even  at  the  most  conserv- 
ative estimate  reach  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  the 
contracts  for  all  of  these  things  were  made  by  stu- 
dents, and  the  bills  paid  by  students.  The  amounts 
may  seem  large,  but  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
number  receiving  degrees  exceeded  one  thousand,  the 
expenditure  is  very  moderate.  If  one  sliould  go  into 
it  thoughtfully,  he  would  be  quite  astonished  to  real- 
ize the  thousand  and  one  undergraduate  interests 
which  require  the  making  of  contracts,  the  collection 
of  considerable  sums  of  money  often  running  into 
thousands  of  dollars,  and  the  payment  of  bills  by  in- 
experienced careless  undergraduates  upon  whom  there 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND  GRAFT  51 

is  little  effective  check,  and  who  themselves  are  un- 
likely if  allowed  to  go  undirected  or  unsupervised  to 
keep  any  intelligent  or  intelligible  account  of  their 
receipts  or  their  expenditures.  In  any  of  the  Middle 
West  state  universities  the  sums  of  money  handled  by 
students  in  the  conduct  of  undergraduate  affairs  will 
run  annually  into  tens  of  thousands  of  dollars. 

The  young  men  who  make  up  the  student  body  of 
any  of  our  Middle  West  universities  when  they  enter 
college  are,  many  of  tliem,  not  unfamiliar  with  the 
ways  of  the  world.  They  know  what  it  means  to 
get  or  to  hold  a  job  througli  the  influence  of  friends ; 
they  may  not  call  it  "  pull,"  but  it  is  the  same  thing 
under  another  name.  They  are  not  inclined  to  work 
"  for  their  health,"  and  if  they  do  a  piece  of  work, 
even  if  it  be  only  having  their  names  on  a  liat  com- 
mittee, they  can  not  always  see  why  they  should  not 
profit  by  it  in  some  material  way.  They  are  strongly 
imbued  with  the  commercial  spirit.  Much  of  the 
foolish  talk  which  tliey  have  heard  about  college  has 
been  mixed  with  stories  of  graft  in  undergraduate 
affairs,  and  many  fellows  come  to  college  with  the 
idea  that  if  you  are  anyt-hing  of  a  wise  guy  you  can 
pick  up  money  almost  anywhere  about  a  college 
campus. 

The  editor  of  the  summer  edition  of  our  college 
daily  was  complaining  to  me  not  long  ago  that  he  was 
having  to  do  most  of  the  work  on  the  paper  himself 
this  summer,  and  that  it  was  really  more  than  he 
was  able  to  accomplish. 

"  Haven't  you  a  staff?  "  I  inquired,  with  the  mem- 
ory of  a  long  published  list  of  names  of  editors  in  my 
mind. 


52  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

"  Why,  yes,"  was  his  reply,  "  but  you  see  they  don't 
get  anything  out  of  it,  and  you  can't  expect  a  fellow 
to  work  for  nothing  these  days."  It  is  a  significant 
fact  that  if  you  ask  a  young  fellow  in  college  now 
to  perform  any  sort  of  service,  the  first  question  he 
is  likely  to  ask  is,  "What's  there  in  it?"  It  is  the 
slogan  of  our  times  whicli  our  young  men  have 
learned  at  home  from  the  conduct  of  politics  and  the 
conduct  of  business.  We  are  supposed  to  preach 
higher  ideals  in  college,  but  it  is  hard  to  supplant  a 
doctrine  of  selfish  personnl  interest  and  ])rofit  with 
one  of  altruism. 

The  fact  that  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  popu- 
lar to  go  to  college  and  tbat  every  year,  with  us  at 
least,  there  is  an  increasingly  larger  number  of  under- 
graduates who  must  earn  their  living,  has  its  influ- 
ence, T  have  no  doubt,  upon  this  desire  for  graft.  I 
do  not  mean  to  indicate  tliat  it  is  the  men  who  have 
the  greatest  need  for  money  to  meet  the  daily  de- 
mands for  food  and  lodging  wlio  are  most  concerned 
in  the  illegitimate  ways  of  olitaining  money,  and  to 
whom  these  temptations  come  more  strongly.  Quite 
the  contrary  in  fact;  but  when  one-third  of  the  men 
in  college,  as  is  the  case  with  us,  are  concerned  in 
some  way  in  earning  the  whole  or  a  part  of  their 
living  there  is  bound  to  be  a  good  deal  of  talk  cur- 
rent relative  to  these  matters,  and  when  one  is  daily 
rubbing  up  against  men  who  are  bringing  in  a  few 
dollars,  it  is  not  strange  that  one  should  look  about 
him,  even  though  not  pressed  by  want  or  dire  need,  in 
an  attempt  to  discover  if  there  is  not  some  easy  money 
in  reach  which  he  may  pick  up.  If  no  one  were  earn- 
ing money,  perhaps  no  one  else  would  want  to  do  so, 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AXD  GRAFT  53 

but  the  sight  or  the  rumor  of  other  fellows  adding  to 
their  incomes  by  steady  work  or  clever  financiering 
stimulates  cupidity,  just  as  when  I  go  by  an  ice  cream 
refectory  and  see  a  few  friends  sitting  in  the  window 
refreshing  themselves  with  lemon  stirs  and  bostons, 
my  thirst  rises. 

"VThen  Mclntyre  came  to  me  this  spring  and  wanted 
me  to  help  him  collect  a  hill  of  fifty  dollars  from  the 
freshman  class  for  doing  work  which  his  office  re- 
quired him  to  do  free  of  charge,  I  refused.  "  Why  do 
you  want  this  ? "  I  asked,  knowing  that  Mac  got  a 
generous  check  from  home  every  month,  "you  have 
plenty  of  money " ;  not  that  that  fact  would  have 
made  any  difference  if  he  had  been  entitled  to  the 
money,  but  Just  to  see  what  his  reaction  would  be. 

"  Every  one  else  in  tlie  house  is  making  some- 
thing," he  explained,  "  and  this  seemed  my  chance. 
I  can't  see  why  I  sliouldn't  make  a  little  on  the  side 
even  if  T  do  get  all  I  need  from  home."'  They  were 
all  in  the  game,  and  Mac  didn't  want  to  be  on  the  side 
lines. 

Another  thing  which,  in  a  state  university  at  least, 
helps  to  confirm  students  in  their  unwillingness  to  do 
anything  unless  they  are  paid  for  it,  is  the  fact,  I  be- 
lieve, that  tlie  fees  wliich  students  pay  at  such  an  in- 
stitution are  ?o  trifling  as  to  be  almost  negligible. 
They  pay  little  or  nothing  for  instruction  :  many  of 
their  social  affairs  are  in  University  buildings,  their 
athletic  sports  and  games  arc  furnished  at  the  lowest 
possible  rate,  the  University  offers  them  all  sorts  of 
entertainments  free  of  charge,  and  pays  a  man  to  get 
the  indigent  a  job.  Since  they  get  almost  everything 
practically  free,  it  is  only  a  short  step  to  tlie  attitude 


54  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

of  mind  that  if  one  does  any  general  college  service, 
or  belongs  to  anything,  or  is  a  member  of  any  com- 
mittee there  ouglit  to  be  a  generous  rake-off. 

With  this  training  and  tendency  of  students  which 
I  have  discussed,  with  so  many  student  enterprises 
so  organized  that  they  bring  in  relatively  large  sums 
of  money,  some  part  of  which  may  legitimately  be 
divided  among  undergraduates,  it  is  not  easy  to  draw 
the  line  at  the  point  where  honest  remuneration  ends 
and  graft  begins.  An  athlete  may  not  take  money 
for  his  services ;  if  he  does  he  becomes  a  professional 
and,  if  his  act  is  discovered,  he  is  barred  from  tlie 
team.  General  college  sentiment  would  not  now  ap- 
prove an  athlete's  being  paid  even  indirectly  for  his 
services.  It  would  seem  out  of  place  for  a  member 
of  the  glee  club  to  be  paid  for  singing  at  the  regular 
concerts,  though  lie  may  be  a  member  of  a  paid  choir 
at  the  same  time  that  he  belongs  to  the  club  and  be 
subject  to  no  comment  if  the  manager  presents  each 
member  of  the  club  from  the  profits  of  the  concert 
a  sweater  bearing  an  embroidered  monogram,  though 
it  would  stir  up  criticism  and  scandal  if  they  received 
ten  dollar  gold  pieces.  The  members  of  a  committee 
appointed  to  choose  a  class  emblem  or  a  class  hat 
could  not  receive  salaries  for  having  their  names  on 
the  committee,  but  they  feel  entirely  virtuous  and 
above  reproach  if  they  accept  a  hat  or  two  or  a  watch 
fob  for  their  work;  in  fact  they  would  be  likely  to 
suffer  a  real  irritation  if  they  did  not  receive  such 
gratuities.  The  members  of  a  dance  committee  get 
free  admission  to  the  dance  and  charge  up  as  legiti- 
mate expenses  all  their  regular  personal  expenditures 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND  GRAFT  55 

for  cabs  and  candy  incident  to  the  party,  and  these 
things  are  seldom  looked  upon  as  graft. 

In  some  lines  of  student  endeavor  the  undergradu- 
ate who  manages  the  business  is  paid  a  stipulated  sum 
or  gets  a  definitely  agreed  upon  percentage  of  the 
profits  for  his  work  and  thought.  The  managers  of 
the  glee  club  and  the  student  opera,  and  the  lecture 
course,  accept  a  bonus  and  little  is  thought  of  it; 
the  managers  and  editors  of  all  our  student  publica- 
tions receive  definite  salaries  and  a  share  in  the  extra 
profits  of  these  different  publication*  which  is  often 
considerable,  and  they  accept  this  as  a  right. 

The  question  as  to  what  constitutes  graft  and  what 
constitutes  legitimate  pajTnent  for  real  services  ren- 
dered, as  I  said  at  the  outset,  is  not  easy  to  settle. 
The  manager  of  the  glee  club  has  no  little  responsi- 
bility. He  organizes  the  club,  he  plans  the  trips  and 
makes  all  arrangements  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
members  when  they  are  out  of  town ;  he  looks  after 
the  contracts  for  engagements,  pays  the  bills,  and 
puts  in  a  tremendous  amount  of  time  in  getting 
things  in  order  and  in  keeping  them  so.  If  he  should 
be  paid  fifty  or  one  hundred  dollars,  should  this  be 
called  graft?  Again,  the  undergraduate  wlio  has 
charge  of  the  commencement  invitations  does  not  al- 
ways have  an  easy  job.  He  is  beset  by  solicitors,  he 
must  try  to  please  as  many  members  of  the  class  as 
possible,  he  has  a  considerable  amount  of  detail  to 
look  after,  must  read  some  pretty  difficult  proof  (and 
usually  does  it  badly)  and  be  sure  that  tlie  name  of 
every  member  of  the  class  is  on  the  list.  The  invita- 
tions must  be  delivered  on  time  and  in  exactly  the 


56  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

numbers  ordered  by  each  individual.  Should  he  get 
a  raJce-off  ? 

Only  a  few  years  ago  when  the  representative  of  a 
well  known  engraving  company  in  the  East  was  so- 
liciting an  order  from  the  chairman  of  the  senior  in- 
vitations committee  he  presented  two  propositions. 
The  invitations  —  five  thousand  of  them  or  more  — 
would  be  laid  down  at  the  college  book  store  for 
thirty  cents  each.  If  a  certain  paper  stock  was  ac- 
cepted he  would  pay  to  the  chairman  of  the  commit- 
tee for  his  trouble  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in 
cash  when  the  order  was  delivered,  or  if  the  chairman 
did  not  see  his  way  clear  to  accept  this  offer  —  some 
chairmen  do  not  —  he  would  furnish  a  slightly  su- 
perior quality  of  paper  for  the  same  price.  There 
would  be  nothing  on  record  or  public  about  this  trans- 
fer of  the  cash, —  he  would  be  handed  the  bonus  in 
cash  which  was  simply  to  show  in  a  delicate  way  the 
appreciation  of  the  company  for  this  item  of  business. 
Was  this  a  legitimate  payment  for  services  rendered 
which  the  young  fellow  was  at  liberty  to  accept  with- 
out criticism,  or  not  ? 

Our  college  daily,  managed  by  students,  does  a 
yearly  business  of  twenty  or  thirty  thousands  of  dol- 
lars. Tlie  annual  contract  for  the  printing  of  this 
paper  is  let  by  a  board  of  trustees  composed  of  four 
students  and  three  members  of  tiie  faculty.  A  few 
years  ago  one  of  the  students  concerned  was  ap- 
proached by  a  representative  of  one  of  the  firms  bid- 
ding for  the  contract  with  this  proposition.  His  firm 
would  agree  to  print  the  paper  for  a  sum  as  low  as 
the  lowest  bidder  who  should  make  application  for 
the  job ;  they  would  also  make  in  every  other  detail 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND  GRAFT  57 

a  contract  as  favorable  to  the  interests  of  the  paper 
ag  any  other  contract  offered.  If  the  student  con- 
cerned would  use  his  influence  and  by  his  so  doing 
they  should  secure  the  contract,  they  would  hand  him 
one  hundred  dollars  in  currency.  The  boy  was  a 
hard  working  fellow  who  was  forced  to  support  him- 
self,, the  firm  making  him  the  offer  was  well  qualified 
to  carry  out  such  a  contract,  and  there  was  every 
probability  that  he  could  swing  the  business  in  their 
direction.  So  far  as  he  could  see  he  would  not  dam- 
age the  paper  nor  cause  any  person  inconvenience  or 
loss  if  he  should  accept  the  proposition,  and  the 
money  he  was  to  receive  would  carry  him  easily 
through  one  of  the  hardest  financial  difficulties  he 
had  encountered  during  his  undergraduate  course. 
If  he  had  taken  the  money,  would  he  have  been  guilty 
of  dishonesty  and  graft? 

A  former  manager  of  one  of  our  publications  was 
approached  by  a  representative  of  the  firm  that  had 
done  work  on  the  publication  when  the  manager  re- 
ferred to  was  in  charge.  "  If  you  will  help  us  to  get 
this  next  contract,"  he  said,  "  we  shall  be  glad  to  pay 
you  handsomely  as  a  purely  business  proposition." 
The  work  which  the  firm  had  done  liad  been  second 
class,  as  the  former  manager  well  knew,  but  he  volun- 
teered to  take  the  new  manager  through  the  work 
rooms  of  the  interested  firm,  showed  up  their  good 
points,  evaded  the  weak  ones,  urged  the  claims  of  the 
firm  to  the  new  man's  consideration  and  persuaded 
him  to  give  them  his  contract.  For  all  this  he  had 
his  expenses  paid  and  received  in  cash  an  amount  of 
money  far  in  excess  of  what  he  could  have  legiti- 
matelv  earned  in  four  times  the  time  consumed  in  his 


58  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

endeavor.  Was  he  dishonest,  and  was  the  money 
which  he  accepted  graft? 

In  giving  these  illustrations  I  have  advisedly  in- 
dicated that  in  each  case  the  remuneration  which 
these  fellows  accepted  or  that  which  was  offered  them 
was  always  cash,  never  a  check  or  a  draft,  for  when 
bills  change  hands,  unless  they  are  marked,  there  is 
no  tangible  record  and  no  way  for  an  outsider  to  run 
the  matter  down  and  get  hold  of  it.  Each  one  of 
these  firms  may  say,  as  in  fact  most  of  them  have 
said,  that  there  was  no  such  transaction  authorized 
by  them  and  nothing  of  this  sort  so  far  as  they  are 
aware  ever  occurred.  The  student,  also,  if  he  is  un- 
certain as  to  the  integrity  of  his  conduct  has  no  em- 
barrassing legal  witness  to  rise  up  to  trouble  him. 
If  he  is  asked  about  the  affair  he  may  have  forgotten, 
or  he  may  evade  the  question  entirely. 

For  my  own  part,  I  am  convinced  that  we  should 
be  living  under  a  healthier  business  and  social  regime 
in  college  if  we  could  go  back  to  the  time  when  stu- 
dents worked  in  undergraduate  affairs  because  they 
valued  the  distinction  and  the  lionor  of  the  positions 
which  weio  attainable,  and  because  they  were  willing 
tlirough  sueli  means  to  gain  acquaintanceship  and 
experience.  There  was  stronger  loyalty  then,  tliere 
was  a  keener  college  spirit,  there  was  greater  develop- 
ment of  character,  there  was  better  sportsmanship, 
for  a  fellow  is  a  poor  sportsman  who  can  not  see  his 
way  to  doing  something  for  the  advantage  of  his  col- 
lege or  his  clas.s  or  his  organization  without  receiving 
payment  for  it  whether  such  payment  be  in  green- 
backs or  gold  watch  fobs,  whether  it  comes  to  him 
through  the  operation  of  regular  college  rules,  or  by 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND  GRAFT  59 

irregular  and  hidden  processes  which  he  hesitates  to 
discuss.  We  are,  however,  in  most  of  our  colleges 
at  least,  working  under  a  different  system,  looking  at 
the  business  of  undergraduate  affairs  from  a  differ- 
ent viewpoint,  and  shall  have  to  take  things  as  I  find 
them. 

If  I  may  answer  my  own  question  as  to  what  really 
constitutes  graft  in  college  I  should  say  that  it  is  re- 
ceiving payment  or  profit  without  having  the  proper 
authority  or  sanction  from  those  who  actually  pay 
tlie  money  or  are  responsible  for  its  disposal ;  or  with- 
out having  rendered  an  equivalent  ser\dce.  If  the 
junior  class  votes  to  give  fobs  to  the  men  who  were 
in  charge  of  the  Prom,  their  acceptance  of  such  a  gift 
under  this  definition  cannot  be  considered  as  graft 
because  the  class  has  a  right  to  distribute  its  own 
money.  If,  however,  the  committee  votes  itself  fobs 
without  the  approval  or  consent  of  the  class,  and  buys 
them  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  dance,  the  case  is 
different.  The  man  who  was  in  charge  of  the  senior 
invitations,  for  example,  if  he  should  have  accepted 
one  hundred  dollars  might  quite  legitimately  have 
been  accused  of  graft,  for  no  matter  under  what 
felicitous  name  the  transfer  of  currency  might  have 
taken  place,  no  one  is  foolish  enough  to  think  that 
any  one  was  really  paying  this  amount  excepting 
those  who  are  paying  for  the  invitations  and  they 
are  doing  so  without  their  knowledge  or  consent. 
The  firm  that  offered  such  a  bonus  made  itself  safe 
by  adding  an  equal  or  a  larger  amount  to  the  reguhir 
selling  price  of  the  goods.  The  follow  who  helped 
to  land  the  contract  with  the  firm  that  had  previously 
done  a  second  class  business  with  him,  in  addition 


60  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

to  perpetrating  an  ordinary  common  act  of  dishon- 
esty was  also  a  grafter,  for  the  service  which  he  per- 
formed even  if  it  had  been  otherwise  square  was  far 
less  in  proportion  than  the  remuneration  he  received. 

We  have  a  university  regulation  to  the  effect  that 
no  organization  is  permitted  to  hold  an  entertainment 
with  a  view  to  raising  money  to  be  divided  among 
its  members.  When  the  members  of  our  dancing 
clubs,  therefore,  turn  their  cash  balance  into  their 
own  individual  pockets  they  are  receiving  profit  con- 
trary to  authority  and  are  guilty  of  graft.  Some- 
times, perhaps,  a  practice  like  this  is  established  so 
gradually  and  goes  on  so  long  that  it  loses  its  original 
significance  and  seems  to  become  a  legitimate  com- 
mercial enterprise. 

There  is  another  sort  of  graft  which  contemplates 
a  special  privilege  or  looks  for  favors  through  rela- 
tionship or  acquaintanceship  where  a  man  has  given 
little  or  nothing  for  what  he  expects  in  return.  A 
student  is  sometimes  accused  of  "  working  a  graft  " 
when  all  that  is  meant  is  that  because  of  his  nearness 
to  an  individual  or  his  connection  with  an  office  or 
an  organization  he  may  be  receiving  favors  to  which 
he  might  otherwise  not  be  entitled.  If  Jones  is 
chairman  of  the  Prom  Committee,  then  Brown  who 
is  his  roommate,  even  though  he  has  done  no  work 
to  merit  preferment,  exj)ects  to  fall  heir  to  some  sort 
of  soft  job  where  tlic  payment  will  at  least  equal  if 
it  does  not  exceed  the  labor.  Fraternity  men  in  au- 
thority or  with  appointing  power  are  not  at  all  likely 
to  forget  the  needy  or  the  eager  brother  when  their 
jobs  are  l)eing  partitioned  out.  If  'i'om  Jones  is 
managing  the  student  opera  it  is  to  be  expected  that 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND  GRAFT  61 

a  large  percentage  of  the  Zete's  should  be  in  the  cast 
and  in  other  places  of  emolument  and  honor;  if 
Skinny  Bill  is  in  charge  of  the  Mask  and  Bauble  play 
then  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  the  whole  Beta  chap- 
ter taking  tickets  at  the  door.  It  is  pretty  hard  when 
some  member  of  the  family  is  holding  the  bag  for 
one  not  to  try  to  get  his  fingers  at  least  upon  a  few 
coins. 

Tliis  form  of  graft  does  not  always  put  the  worst 
or  the  most  incapable  men  into  positions  of  trust;  on 
the  contrary  the  men  selected  frequently  perform 
their  tasks  admirably,  but  it  is  simply  another  phase 
of  the  spoils  system ;  it  teaches  a  bad  social  principle, 
and  is  a  form  of  graft  detrimental  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  college.  It  is  at  best  a  weakener  of  the 
character  of  those  who  work  it. 

"  I  can  not  conceive,"  a  senior  recently  said  to  me, 
"  that  any  college  man  would  ever  fail  to  vote  for  a 
brother  or  for  a  friend  if  he  were  a  candidate  for 
office." 

"  Xot  even  if  there  were  a  much  better  man  run- 
ning? "  I  asked. 

"  Xo  fellow  under  those  circumstances  would  be 
willing  to  admit  that  there  are  any  better  men,"  was 
his  reply.  But  it  is  a  rather  vicious  accompaniment 
of  graft  that  makes  it  impossible  for  a  man  to  recog- 
nize merit  in  any  but  his  friends. 

These  things  which  I  have  been  discussing  are  en- 
couraged in  college  hy  two  or  tliree  things.  If  we 
must  speak  the  truth  such  practices  are  not  at  all 
uncommon  in  the  business  world,  and  students  know 
it.  The  representative  of  one  of  the  best  known 
men's  furnishing  stores  in  Chicago  not  long  ago  ad- 


62  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

vertised  his  business  and  attempted  to  increase  his 
trade  by  handing  out  half  pint  bottles  of  whiskey  to 
all  thirsty  comers.  We  live  in  a  dry  time,  so  that 
although  these  little  courtesies  are  not  universally 
appealing  tliey  do  in  some  satisfy  a  long  felt  want. 
I  do  not  suppose  the  firm  whose  goods  were  thus  being 
advertised  knew  the  exact  methods  which  were  being 
employed  by  their  solicitor,  but  he  was  known  as  one 
of  the  shrewdest  and  most  successful  salesmen  on  the 
road.  A  young  landscape  gardener  who  has  been  out 
of  college  for  only  a  few  years  told  me  a  short  time 
ago  that  he  seldom  put  in  an  order  for  shrubs  to 
carry  out  the  work  of  park  planting  in  whicli  he  is 
now  engaged  without  one  or  more  salesmen  offer- 
ing to  split  profits  witli  him  to  get  his  order.  These 
dishonest  ways  of  promoting  trade  are  not  unknown 
to  many  undergraduates,  and  though  they  are  not 
universal  they  are  far  too  common  to  make  it  easy 
to  develop  healthy  business  principles. 

As  soon  as  the  undergraduate  begins  to  do  business 
in  college  he  finds  that  competition  among  local  mer- 
chants and  other  business  men  is  keen  and  that  a 
good  percentage  of  them  are  out  for  the  business  and 
are  willing  to  pay  to  get  it.  It  is  not  so  strange, 
then,  that  the  young  inexperienced  student  should 
fall  a  victim  to  the  subtle  arguments  wliich  over-en- 
thusiastic solicitors  and  business  men  are  willing  to 
present  in  order  to  get  their  orders.  "  Tliey  prac- 
tically all  do  it  in  one  way  or  another,"  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  big  business  house  said  to  me  not  long 
ago,  "  and  if  one  wants  to  do  business,  one  has  to 
come  across.  It  isn't  always  money,  of  course,  which 
we  put  up,  but  it  is  the  equivalent  of  money." 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND  GRAFT  63 

I  should  not  want  to  blame  this  practice  entirely 
upon  business  houses  or  their  representatives.  Most 
students  are  of  the  opinion  that  graft  is  pretty  general 
in  undergraduate  activities  and  many  fellows  go  out 
for  positions  with  the  hope  of  finding  or  making  op- 
portunity for  illegitimate  profit.  Some  men,  it  is 
true,  are  surprised  when  they  are  offered  money  to 
let  a  contract ;  some  even  are  incensed ;  but  there  are 
others  who  by  subtle  suggestion  make  it  quite  evident 
to  business  firms  that  they  are  willing  to  be  bribed, 
and  others  even  more  boldly  ask  at  the  outset  how 
much  there  will  be  in  it  for  them  personally.  A 
local  merchant  told  me  recently  that  the  class  officer 
wlio  was  in  charge  of  the  business  of  letting  the  con- 
tract for  a  class  hat  or  cap  came  to  him  to  ask  for  a 
bid  on  the  proposition.  When  the  boy  had  received 
the  merchant's  bid  he  said,  "  You  have  offered  to 
furnish  these  caps  for  one  dollar  and  twenty  cents 
each.  I  will  give  you  the  contract  if  you  will  make 
it  one  dollar  and  thirty  cents  and  turn  the  ten  cents 
extra  over  to  me  for  my  trouble." 

"  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  do  that,"  was  the  mer- 
chant's reply,  "  if  your  class  will  so  vote  or  if  you  will 
have  announced  to  the  class  beforehand  what  is  being 
done ;  but  otherwise  I  cannot."  The  young  fellow 
went  away  to  consider  the  proposition,  but  he  never 
returned,  and  another  firm  received  the  order. 

These  practices  could  be  stopped  if  they  could  more 
easily  be  detected ;  but  very  few  people  take  responsi- 
bility in  the  matter.  The  students  who  profit  by  such 
grafting  seldom  boast  of  it  or  make  it  a  matter  of 
talk ;  those  who  know  of  it  but  who  take  no  active 
part  shrug  their  shoulders  and  affirm  that  it  is  none 


64  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

of  their  affairs;  it  may  be  wrong,  but  the  responsi- 
bility is  not  upon  them  to  stop  it.  Merchants  or 
business  firms  who  arc  implicated,  most  of  them  far 
away  from  the  campus,  of  course  have  nothing  to  say 
on  the  subject,  and  those  who  are  approached  and 
who  do  not  want  to  enter  into  such  irregular  nego- 
tiations, ordinarily  content  themselves  with  turning 
down  the  proposition  and  saying  nothing.  When 
there  is  a  transfer  of  cash  there  is  no  record  of  it,  no 
witnesses,  no  checks  or  drafts  or  papers  of  any  kind 
to  show  that  the  undergraduate  has  profited.  Bills 
are  made  out  in  regular  order  and  checks  covering 
the  total  amount  of  these  bills  are  always  forthcom- 
ing, so  that  on  the  surface  the  transaction  seems  en- 
tirely above  board. 

Notwithstanding  these  facts,  however,  I  feel  sure 
that  careful  supervision  by  the  faculty  of  the  busi- 
ness transactions  of  student  activities  would  help  ma- 
terially to  reduce  if  not  in  many  cases  to  prevent 
undergraduate  graft  as  it  now  exists.  Much  of  the 
graft  does  not  come  from  a  definite  transfer  of  cash 
from  the  representative  of  a  business  firm  to  an  un- 
dergraduate manager,  though  there  is  considerable  of 
this;  it  comes  through  thoughtlessness  and  careless- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  student.  He  collects  money 
from  various  sources  and  gives  no  receipts;  he  pays 
bills  and  docs  not  make  a  record  of  them  ;  he  does  not 
keep  separate  the  money  whicli  l)elongs  to  himself 
personally  and  that  which  belongs  to  the  committee 
or  the  organization  which  he  represents;  he  spends 
money  as  lie  is  called  on  to  do  so,  and  by  the  end  of 
a  week  or  a  month  he  has  no  remote  idea  how  his  ac- 
counts stand  —  liow  much  monev  is  his  own  and  liow 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  AND  GRAFT  65 

much  is  his  organization's.  This  spring  I  called  to 
my  office  a  young  senior  who  had  handled  the  accounts 
of  a  prominent  university  organization  to  insist  that 
he  make  a  reckoning.  He  had  kept  no  records;  he 
had  taken  no  receipts  nor  given  any;  he  did  not  know 
whether  he  had  collected  fifty  dollars  or  two  hundred 
and  fifty.  He  was  sure  that  he  had  not  handled  much 
money,  though  what  had  come  into  his  keeping  he  had 
put  into  his  pocket  without  record  and  spent  as  his 
own.  The  only  way  in  which  he  could  in  any  sense 
atone  for  his  carelessness,  he  said,  was  to  meet  the 
bills  of  the  organization  and  if  these  were  presented 
to  him  he  would  pay  them.  I  am  sure  he  will  always 
feel  that  he  got  the  worst  of  the  bargain,  though  it 
is  not  at  all  certain  that  he  did  not  collect  consider- 
ably more  than  the  bills  amounted  to.  Such  errors 
as  this  which  I  have  just  mentioned  are  all  too  com- 
mon ;  the  student  falls  into  tliem  thoughtlessly  at 
first,  and  then  finding  his  afi'airs  in  a  hopeless  mud- 
dle, trusts  to  providence  to  get  him  out. 

Such  difficulties  could  be  avoided  by  requiring  all 
undergraduates  responsible  for  the  collecting  and  the 
expending  of  money  to  give  numbered  receipts  for 
all  money  collected  and  to  pay  all  bills  by  check  on 
this  money  after  it  has  been  deposited  in  the  bank. 
Years  ago  I  learned  through  dear  experience  not  to 
mix  any  one  else's  money  with  my  own.  If  I  were 
a  Sunday  school  treasurer  I  should  carry  in  a  bag 
to  the  bank  on  Monday  morning  the  pennies  and 
nickels  I  had  collected  on  Sunday  and  never  let  them 
touch  the  unsanctified  coins  in  my  own  pocket. 
When  all  students  who  haiulle  money  for  under- 
graduate organizations  are  required  to  make  a  busi- 


66  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

ness-like  report  of  their  receipts  and  expenditures, 
and  have  furnished  them  at  a  trifling  cost  the  neces- 
sary books  and  paraphernalia  to  keep  these  accounts, 
the  graft  that  arises  through  carelessness  will  be  re- 
duced to  a  minimum.  Knowing  that  he  will  be  re- 
quired to  make  a  report  the  undergraduate  will  be 
on  his  guard.  If  undergraduate  graft  is  to  be  elim- 
inated or  even  become  the  unusual  occurrence  in  col- 
lege life,  it  will  be  through  the  development  of  pub- 
lic sentiment.  We  are  all  of  us  more  than  we  think 
kept  conventional  and  clean  and  honest  through  fear 
of  what  people  will  say ;  we  might  sometimes  be 
tempted  to  swerve  a  little  from  the  path  of  rectitude 
if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  we  should  be  talked 
about  or  made  unpopular  or  criticized  or  ostracized 
for  our  action.  We  all  wish  to  be  approved  and 
thought  well  of.  When  the  undergraduate  who  works 
a  graft  is  looked  upon  by  his  fellow  students  as  is  any 
otlier  crook  or  dishonest  man,  when  his  lack  of  in- 
tegrity instead  of  making  him  thought  a  hero  or  a 
clever  fellow  brings  him  disfavor  and  unpopularity, 
when  the  sentiment  of  the  world  at  large  and  of  the 
college  world  is  against  such  dishonest  dealings  and 
all  who  work  them  whether  they  be  undergraduates 
or  business  men,  the  undergraduate  will  in  large  part 
be  separated  from  graft. 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY 
CHILDREN 

My  title  recalls  Tom  Crow  vividly  to  my  mind.  I 
noticed  him  first  shortly  after  the  opening  of  col- 
lege. He  was  always  late  to  my  lecture,  coming  in 
heated  and  perturbed,  if  he  came  at  all,  and  stumbling 
awkwardly  over  the  feet  of  those  who  had  been 
prompt,  as  he  scrambled  into  his  seat  in  the  middle 
of  the  class  room.  His  hair  was  usually  damp  and 
uncombed  and  his  clothing  unkempt  as  if  while  in 
the  swimming  pool  or  on  the  tennis  courts  some  one 
had  suddenly  reminded  him  of  his  neglected  intel- 
lectual obligation  and  he  had  hastened  to  his  task 
adjusting  his  clothing  on  the  way.  In  point  of  fact, 
as  I  learned  later  on  inquiry,  this  was  actually  what 
had  happened,  for,  since  Tom  liad  never  before  done 
any  thinking  for  himself,  his  roommate  had  been  en- 
gaged to  do  it  for  him,  and  sometimes  was  tardy  in 
his  duty,  Tom  showed  himself  a  poor  student;  he 
was  a  likeable  loafer  who  meant  to  do  his  work,  but 
who  could  never  get  at  it.  He  was  so  poor  a  student 
that  when  his  mother  came  to  visit  him  after  his 
pretty  complete  failure  at  the  end  of  the  first  semester 
she  called  on  me. 

"  Don't  be  too  hard  on  Tommy,"  she  said.  "  I've 
always  looked  after  him  at  home,  and  this  new  life  is 
pretty  nearly  too  much  for  him.  When  he  was  in 
high  school  I  always  used  to  give  him  his  toast  and 

67 


68  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

coffee  in  bed,  and  while  he  was  eating  I  got  his  bath 
ready  and  laid  out  his  fresh  clothes,  and  got  his 
things  in  order  for  hira  to  start  to  school.  He'll 
learn  in  time  if  you  are  patient  with  him." 

In  addition  to  the  fact  that  it  was  bad  hygiene  for 
Tommy  to  eat  before  he  bathed,  it  was  poor  disci- 
pline which  his  mother  subjected  him  to.  He  was 
an  exaggerated  type  of  the  only  son  whose  career  in 
college  was  short  because  lie  had  been  coddled  by  a 
too  loving  and  a  too  indulgent  mother  at  home. 

Let  me  explain  at  once  that  though  I  am  not  the 
only  child,  I  am  the  youngest  sou,  and  so  am  writing 
without  prejudice  and  not  without  experience.  As 
a  child  I  had  more  freedom  and  more  privileges  than 
any  of  my  older  brothers  and  sisters  had  been  per- 
mitted to  enjoy.  I  was  the  normal  spoiled  child,  I 
think,  petted  by  my  older  sisters  and  praised  and 
coddled  by  father  and  mother.  I  went  to  school  when 
I  ])leased,  and  worked  when  I  wished  to  do  so.  When 
I  was  fifteen  my  father  died. 

It  is  a  handicap,  I  am  convinced,  to  be  the  only 
child  or  the  youngest  son  or  the  son  of  but  one  parent. 
A  beneficent  creator  when  he  wrote  the  directions  for 
running  the  universe  decreed  that  every  normal  child 
should  have  two  parents,  and  I  think  that  either  a 
greater  or  a  smaller  number  than  this  generally  re- 
sults in  an  ill  effect  upon  the  child ;  and  he  intended, 
also,  until  society  made  it  unpopular,  that  there 
should  be  more  tlian  one  child  in  every  family,  in 
order  that  one  might  help  in  the  training  and  the 
education  of  the  others.  Sometimes  'a  wise  parent 
is  able  to  overcome  this  handicap  for  his  child ;  some- 
times a  clever  independent  child  is  able  to  manage 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        69 

himself  or  liis  parent  so  skillfully  as  to  offset  the 
handicap;  but  these  cases  are  rare. 

At  this  point  I  hear  the  indignant  protesting 
mother  saying,  "  Well,  I'm  perfectly  certain  that  I 
have  not  spoiled  my  boy,"  and  she  launches  out  into 
a  detailed  recital  of  all  his  virtues  and  accomplish- 
ments and  of  the  rigidty  of  her  personal  regime.  I 
have  heard  the  story  so  often  and  so  vividly  presented 
that  I  could  recite  it  from  memory  without  prompt- 
ing, and  sometimes  I  have  been  glad  to  admit  that 
it  was  true. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  Percy  ?  "  the  mother  of 
an  only  child  said  to  me  a  few  days  ago.  "  He  works 
hard,  he  loves  his  work,  but  he  doesn't  get  on." 

"  He  is  a  spoiled  boy,"  was  my  reply,  "  who  neither 
loves  his  work  nor  works  hard.  He  is  a  bluffer  who 
works  upon  your  sympathies  by  a  recital  of  his  woes 
and  endeavors,  and  the  results  bring  him  more  money 
and  more  privileges."  She  was  a  loving,  indulgent, 
anxious  mother  who  believed  everything  that  her  boy 
told  her  as  if  it  had  been  gospel,  and  made  adequate 
explanation  of  every  dereliction  and  irregularity  of 
which  he  was  guilty.  Her  boy  had  not  escaped  the 
handicap. 

I  was  talking  to  the  father  of  a  freshman  who  had 
failed  in  his  college  course  completely.  The  boy 
was  intellectually  bright,  but  lie  had  not  studied,  he 
had  not  gone  to  class,  and  he  had  fallen  into  bad 
ways  and  wa.sted  his  time  generally. 

"What  is  the  matter  with  the  boy?"  the  father 
asked.     "  Why  lias  he  failed  ?  " 

I  did  not  answer  for  a  moment,  and  then  I  met  his 
inquiry  by  asking  a  second  question. 


70  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

"  How  many  children  have  you  ?  " 

"  He  is  our  only  child,"  was  the  reply,  "  and  we 
have  done  everything  for  him." 

"  You  have  answered  your  own  question,"  I  said. 
"  He's  your  only  child,  and  you've  done  everything 
for  him."  There  had  been  nothing  the  matter  with 
the  boy ;  it  was  with  the  father. 

It  is  true,  as  I  have  said,  however,  that  some  chil- 
dren escape  the  handicap  of  being  the  youngest  or 
the  only  child  or  the  child  of  one  parent,  and  for  the 
sake  of  harmony  at  the  outset,  we  will  agree  that 
yours  is  one  of  these,  that  he  has  not  been  made  con- 
ceited by  praise  nor  made  selfish  by  indulgence.  It 
is  of  the  others,  you  will  understand,  that  I  am  writ- 
ing. 

A  college  officer  who  comes  into  personal  contact 
with  scores  of  undergraduate  young  men  every  day 
will,  as  the  years  go  on,  have  many  things  suggested 
to  him  relative  to  their  home  and  their  home  influ- 
ences, to  their  parents  and  to  their  ideals.  Behind 
these  boys  he  will  come  to  see  weak,  incapable  par- 
ents or  hard-working,  struggling  fathers,  and  thought- 
ful, wise  mothers,  and  influences  that  are  stronger 
than  words.  He  will  come  in  time  unconsciously  to 
group  these  boys  according  to  the  characteristics  they 
show%  to  separate,  for  example,  tlie  country  boy  from 
the  city  boy,  for  even  the  crude  city  boy  has  a  vulgar 
crudeness  all  his  own  that  is  easily  distinguishable 
from  the  rustic  crudeness  of  the  young  fellow  from 
the  country.  He  will  recognize  the  boy  who  has  done 
right  and  kept  clean  from  principle,  and  he  will  pick 
out  the  fellow  without  personal  principles  who  has 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        71 

played  the  game  safe  with  the  home  folks  and  kept 
out  of  trouble  through  policy. 

The  undergraduate  who  has  had  his  secondary 
training  in  a  military  school  reveals  that  fact  almost 
invariably  the  moment  he  opens  the  door  of  a  college 
oflBce,  by  his  standing  at  attention  or  by  his  per- 
sistent and  recurring  use  of  "  Sir  "  when  he  speaks 
to  a  superior  officer.  If  he  did  not  reveal  it  at  this 
point  he  would  be  almost  sure  to  do  so  later  by  the 
reluctance  and  irregularity  with  which  he  attends  his 
college  exercises.  The  trouble  with  this  sort  of  boy 
is  that  during  his  school  life  he  was  so  completely  oc- 
cupied with  routine  that  he  had  no  time  to  himself 
and  no  opportunity  to  learn  self-direction.  ^Tien 
the  day  came  that  he  should  determine  for  himself 
how  his  time  should  be  emi)loyed,  he  wa5  helpless. 
The  routine  had  been  so  rigid  that  he  revolted  in  the 
opposite  direction.  Having  always  had  his  duty 
mapped  out  for  him,  he  lacked  the  strength  to  do  it 
for  himself. 

I  have  come  to  say  that  I  can  usually  recognize, 
before  he  has  been  in  college  long,  the  youngest  son 
or  the  only  child,  or  the  child  of  a  single  parent,  or 
the  child  who  is  living  at  home.  Children  are  in- 
jured by  over-attention  quite  as  mucli  as  by  neglect; 
they  may  be  too  well  brought  up  as  well  as  too  ill. 
If  it  is  true  that  tlie  watched  pot  never  boils,  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  coddled  child  seldom  develops 
self-reliance  and  independence.  A  good  many  years 
ago  when  I  was  a  teacher  in  an  academy  a  troubled 
mother  came  to  me  with  her  only  son.  Slie  had  wor- 
ried over  him,  and  worked  with  him,  and  directed 


72  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

him,  and  thought  and  planned  for  him,  and  goaded 
him  on  to  his  lessons  with  little  avail.  He  was 
eighteen  years  of  age  and  was  scarcely  ready  for  high 
school.  She  told  me  all  these  distressing  details  with 
much  feeling  as  he  sat  by  stolidly  listening.  He 
seemed  to  me  a  bright  enough  boy  who  was  not  listen- 
ing to  the  tale  of  his  intellectual  shortcomings  for 
the  first  time. 

"  What's  the  matter  with  Bob  ?  "  she  asked  in  real 
distress.     "  Why  doesn't  he  do  better  ?  " 

"  Too  much  mother,  I  believe,"  I  answered  frankly. 
For  the  first  time  during  the  conversation  Bob  looked 
at  me  and  smiled  and  winked  a  Jvnowing  eye. 

"  You  have  been  working  out  his  problems  for  him 
during  all  these  years,"  I  continued,  "  let  him  do  it 
for  himself,  now.  Leave  him  here,  and  don't  see  him 
for  six  months." 

"  I  have  never  been  away  from  him  a  week  in  his 
life,"  she  said.  "  He  doesn't  know  how  to  take  care 
of  his  clothes,  or  to  look  after  himself.  It  would  kill 
me  to  stay  away  from  him  tliat  long." 

"  It  wiU  ruin  him  if  you  don't,"  I  said.  She  was 
after  all  wanting  very  much  to  do  the  best  for  her 
boy.  She  left  him,  hard  as  it  was,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life  Bob  was  thrown  upon  his  own  re- 
sponsibility. I  need  not  go  into  detail.  He  liked 
the  new  regime,  he  did  his  work,  and  had  his  first  ex- 
perience in  passing  his  examinations  on  his  own  ini- 
tiative. 

The  picture  is,  of  course,  not  always  so  black  a 
one.  Three  of  the  undergraduates  of  my  acquaint- 
ance this  year  who  made  the  most  conspicuous  suc- 
cess in  college,  both  from  tlie  standpoint  of  the  faculty 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        73 

and  of  the  student  body,  were  either  only  sons  or 
youngest  sons.  More  than  this  they  were  living  at 
home.  They  were,  however,  rather  notable  exceptions 
which  tested  the  rule.  They  were  strong  enough  to 
follow  their  own  independent  action,  and  their  par- 
ents were  wise  enough  not  to  ruin  them  by  indul- 
gence. 

The  fault  of  the  type  of  young  fellow  of  whom  I 
have  been  speaking  lies  in  his  training.  The  young- 
est son,  in  the  ordinary  Middle  West  families,  at  least, 
who  send  their  sons  to  college,  comes  into  manhood 
at  a  time  in  the  family  history  usually,  when  affairs 
are  more  prosperous  at  home  than  they  were  when 
the  older  children  were  ready  for  college.  The  family 
has  moved  into  a  new  house,  mother  has  more  leisure, 
and  father  has  more  money  to  spend.  The  oldest 
boy  when  he  was  in  high  school  may  have  delivered 
papers,  or  mowed  the  lawn  in  summer  and  looked 
after  the  furnace  in  winter,  but  now  that  the  family 
is  in  better  circumstances,  there  is  a  man  to  take  care 
of  tliese  matters  and  the  youngest  son  has  nothing  to 
do  but  to  keep  up  his  school  work  and  enjoy  himself. 
He  has  a  generous  supply  of  spending  money,  he 
may  even  have  a  motor  car  of  his  own,  and  there  is 
no  reason  wliy  he  should  take  thought  of  the 
morrow. 

I  was  talking  to  two  such  boys  only  the  other  day 
—  pleasant  lovable  fellows  —  who  have  as  much 
spending  money  as  would  have  taken  me  through 
college.  They  ride  around  in  a  high-powered  car, 
they  squander  money  daily  on  the  "  movies  "  and  in 
ice  cream  parlors,  and  neither  one  would  think  of 
mowing  the  grass  on  their  front  lawns  if  it  were  as 


74  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

liigh  as  their  necks.  The  father  of  neither  one  of 
them  is  rich,  but  they  are  developing  habits  of  lazi- 
ness and  extravagance,  are  often  unhappy  or  bored 
because  they  can  find  no  new  pleasure  or  excitement, 
and  though  they  are  bright  and  clever,  they  are  to- 
tally lacking  in  independence  and  initiative.  They 
are  the  true  types  of  the  middle  class  youngest  son 
and  tliey  will  not  be  in  college  long  until  they  will 
reveal  the  fact  by  indifference  and  discontent  and 
dissipation,  possibly,  and  a  shirking  of  unpleasant 
and  difficult  duties. 

Such  a  child  at  home  soon  comes  to  know  how 
much  the  family  exchequer  will  stand  and  what  priv- 
ileges he  can  count  upon,  and  a  few  years  of  indulg- 
ence will  teach  him  to  get  all  he  can.  T  was  talking 
to  a  father  this  spring.  His  only  son,  a  freshman 
in  college,  had  grown  tired  of  his  course;  it  neces- 
sitated work,  and  he  did  not  enjoy  work.  To  relieve 
himself  of  this  hardship  he  had  run  away,  but  finding 
life  as  a  nomad  more  difficult  than  he  had  supposed 
it  would  be  he  had  telegraphed  his  mother  for  money 
and  had  come  back  for  a  time,  but  now  lie  was  leaving 
college.  He  was  not  getting  what  lie  wanted,  he  said. 
I  was  urging  his  father  to  make  him  stay  and  finish 
what  he  liad  begun;  lie  needed  the  discipline,  and  if 
he  left  now  it  was  unlikely  that  he  woidd  ever  come 
back. 

"  Charles  will  come  back  to  college,  T  am  sure," 
the  father  said,  "  any  boy  who  has  as  good  a  place 
waiting  for  him  after  he  graduates  as  he  has  will  not 
be  so  foolish  as  to  waste  hi.s  chances  by  not  getting 
an  education." 

"Doesn't, he  know  that  you'll  give  him  the  money 


YOUXGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        75 

and  the  place  whether  he  gets  an  education  or  not?  " 
I  asked. 

"  Well,  I  suppose  he  does,"  the  father  admitted, 
and  the  father  was  correct.  Charles  has  never  done 
anything  that  he  did  not  like  to  do,  and  he  never  will, 
and  father  will  give  the  money  just  the  same. 

'Hie  mother  left  with  a  young  boy  to  bring  up  is 
likely  to  take  the  obligation  very  seriously.  She 
realizes  at  once  what  a  loss  it  is  to  him  to  be  without 
the  counsel  of  his  father,  and  she  tries  bravely  to  play 
the  part  of  both  father  and  mother.  For  fear  that 
she  will  fail  in  this  dual  task,  she  scarcely  lets  him 
out  of  her  mind  or  out  of  her  sight  night  or  day. 
The  first  error  which  she  generally  falls  into  is  to 
make  his  life  too  easy.  There  is  for  him  little  or 
no  sacrifice.  If  any  one  is  to  do  without  things  she 
does  it  in  order  that  he  may  have  what  he  wants. 
ITe  must  do  as  the  other  boys  do;  he  must  be  sup- 
plied with  all  tlie  comforts  that  would  have  been  his 
if  his  father  had  lived;  she  does  not  like  to  see  him 
do  difficult  or  disagreeable  things,  especially  if  she 
can  do  them  herself  or  hire  some  one  to  do  them. 
If  he  wants  to  take  responsibility  he  is  often  not  al- 
lowed to  do  so,  until  he  soon  comes  to  the  point  of 
not  offering  to  take  it.  "  1  would  rather  make  sac- 
rifices myself,"  many  a  foolish  mother  says,  "  than 
to  have  my  son  deprived  of  the  pleasures  and  oppor- 
tunities to  which  he  has  a  right."  All  this  can  not 
help  but  weaken  the  boy  and  make  him  selfish  and 
thoughtless  and  extravagant.  ITe  comas  to  feel  that 
lie  is  entitled  to  a  good  time  and  that  if  he  wants 
money  it  is  up  to  his  mother  to  get  it  for  him  in  some 
wav. 


76  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

Last  Commencement  I  met  the  widowed  mother  of 
one  of  the  members  of  our  graduating  class.  She 
was  keenly  interested  in  her  son's  progress,  in  his 
pleasures,  in  the  fact  that  he  should  have  gotten  out 
of  his  undergraduate  life  all  that  was  possible.  She 
told  me  what  a  sacrifice  it  had  meant  to  her  to  send 
him  to  college  and  with  what  self-denial  it  had  been 
possible  for  her  to  raise  the  needed  money.  She  com- 
mented upon  the  extra  cost  of  this  last  year,  but  she 
did  not  regret  one  dollar  that  had  made  it  possible 
for  him  to  have  what  he  wanted.  It  was  easy  to  see 
from  her  faded,  out-of-date  clothes  what  some  of  her 
sacrifices  had  been  that  had  enabled  her  to  send  him 
the  necessary  money.  And  yet  about  the  campus  her 
son  had  been  looked  upon  as  a  young  fellow  of 
wealthy  family.  He  had  gone  with  the  fellows  who 
spent  money  freely,  he  had  never  stayed  away  from 
dinners  or  dances  or  house  parties,  because  he  could 
not  afl'ord  to  go.  There  had  been  no  hesitating  on 
his  part  when  money  was  concerned.  And  all  the 
time  at  home  his  mother  was  working  and  pinching 
and  denying  herself  in  order  that  he  might  live  in 
selfishness  and  luxury,  and  all  the  time  by  this  sacri- 
fice she  was  doing  him  an  irreparable  injury  for 
which  he  and  the  woman  lie  marries  will  in  the  future 
have  to  pay  a  heavy  price. 

In  another  way  these  mothers  in  an  unselfish  en- 
deavor to  do  the  best  for  their  sons  and  ,to  supply 
the  place  of  the  father  that  is  gone,  often  do  them 
harm,  and  that  is  by  never  allowing  them  to  do  their 
own  thinking,  to  look  out  for  themselves,  to  make  mis- 
takes and  by  making  them  to  learn  how  these  mis- 
takes may  be  corrected.     These  eager  mothers  choose 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        77 

their  boy's  clothes  and  companions,  and  courses  of 
study.  They  map  out  his  future  and  all  but  do  his 
worJc  for  him.  They  think  for  him,  and  smooth  out 
the  way  for  him,  and  leave  him  no  chance  to  develop 
self-direction  or  initiative.  They  get  him  up  in  the 
morning,  and  tell  him  when  to  go  to  bed  at  night. 
If  he  has  a  task  to  perform,  they  regularly  set  him 
to  it;  if  he  has  duties  and  obligations  he  is  reminded 
of  them  before  he  has  an  opportunity  to  rely  upon 
his  own  memory  or  think  out  his  own  plan  of  pro- 
cedure. He  is  never  allowed  to  forget  to  be  polite 
or  prompt  or  thoughtful  or  regular  when  mother  is 
by,  and  knowing  that  he  will  not  be,  he  comes  to  de- 
pend upon  the  fact  that  if  there  is  anything  he  ought 
to  da  mother  will  remind  him  of  it  or  call  his  atten- 
tion to  it  in  plenty  time  even  if  it  is  nothing  more 
than  speaking  to  a  caller  or  changing  his  underwear, 
and  so  he  never  learns  to  depend  upon  himself  or  to 
tax  his  memory  with  the  slightest  obligation  either 
mental  or  moral.  In  her  abnormal  fear  that  he  will 
omit  some  duty,  the  over-conscientious  mother  robs 
her  son  of  the  power,  when  he  leaves  her,  of  doing 
any  duty. 

A  refined,  educated  mother  sat  in  my  office  only 
a  few  weeks  ago.  Her  only  son  had  failed,  and  she 
wanted  to  know  why.  She  had  watched  over  him  and 
directed  him,  and  kept  him  immaculate  physically; 
he  had  wanted  nothing  that  he  did  not  get.  He  had 
never  made  a  sacrifice.  She  had  petted  him  and 
loved  him  and  scarcely  ever  let  him  get  out  of  her 
sight.  He  was  a  good  boy,  she  knew,  she  said,  be- 
fore he  came  to  college.  How  had  it  all  happened  ? 
But  the  facts  were  tliat  he  was  not  a  good  boy,  and 


78  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

never  had  been.  He  had  no  independence,  no  prin- 
ciples, no  desire  to  do  well.  He  had  talked  to  me 
very  frankly.  He  had  had  a  few  "  sprees  "  while  he 
was  in  high  school.  "  It  was  pretty  hard  to  get  away 
with  it,"  he  said,  "  for  she  watched  me  pretty  closely, 
and  I  did  not  want  to  hurt  her."  His  theory  was 
that  anything  is  all  right  if  you  don't  get  caught. 
Since  he  had  left  home  he  had  been  drunk,  he  was  in 
debt,  he  had  contracted  a  wretched  disease,  but  he 
had  no  compunctions  and  little  power  of  resistance. 
He  is  one  of  a  type  of  boys  spoiled  at  home. 

In  contrast  to  the  illustration  just  given  is  one  of 
another  whom  I  know.  She  is  a  widow  and  a  woman 
of  influence  and  wide  acquaintance.  This  summer 
her  only  son  wanted  a  position  and  asked  her  to  go 
to  some  of  her  friends  who  were  in  business  and  try 
to  get  him  in  with  them.  She  declined  to  do  this 
and  showed  him  that  it  would  be  very  much  more  to 
his  credit  and  advantage  if  he  should  himself  apply 
to  people  whom  neither  of  them  knew  and  secure  a 
place  upon  his  own  initiative.  It  required  courage 
and  backbone  for  him  to  do  this,  but  he  was  a  happier 
and  a  stronger  boy  when  he  came  home  one  night 
with  a  good  job  which  he  had  got  through  no  one's 
efforts  but  his  own. 

There  is  another  phase  of  this  error  on  the  part  of 
parents,  especially  on  the  part  of  mothers,  to  teach 
their  sons  independence  and  self-reliance  and  a  sense 
of  responsibility  which  is  seen  in  their  tendency  to 
come  to  college  with  their  sons  in  order  that  they 
may  look  after  the  boys  and  give  them  their  care  and 
their  supervision.  When  this  action  is  taken  for 
financial  reasons,  because  the  family  exchequer  is  low 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN       79 

and  a  necessary  saving  of  money  can  be  effected  by 
all  living  together  I  have  nothing  to  say.  I  feel 
much  as  I  do  when  a  fellow  tells  me  that  he  has  to 
make  his  living  while  he  is  carrying  his  college  work 
—  it  is  a  situation  which  has  to  be  met  and  should 
be  met  without  grumbling  or  complaint,  but  it  is  not 
one  which  is  ordinarily  best  for  the  student.  When 
parents  come  with  their  sons  to  college  because  they 
feel  that  by  so  doing  the  boys  will  be  more  healthy, 
more  comfortable,  or  more  moral,  they  are  ordinarily 
making  a  mistake. 

"  I  want  my  son  at  home  with  me  as  long  as  pos- 
sible," a  father  remarked  to  me,  "  I  do  not  like  to 
think  of  his  getting  out  from  under  his  mother's  in- 
fluence." He  did  not  realize  that  no  boy  who  has 
been  correctly  brought  up  can  get  out  from  under 
the  influence  of  his  mother  no  matter  how  widely 
they  may  be  separated  in  time  or  distance. 

I  have  never  known  a  young  fellow  who  was  re- 
strained in  college  by  having  his  mother  or  even  by 
having  both  parents  with  him  if  he  had  any  tendency 
to  irregularities  of  cJiaracter,  more  than  he  would  have 
been  had  he  been  away  from  home.  Subterfuge  is 
so  easy,  explanations  flock  to  his  brain,  and  oppor- 
tunities are  infinite  for  evasion.  There  is  always  the 
"  friend  "  to  fall  back  upon  who  wants  one  to  study 
with  him  or  to  work  up  a  few  experiments.  The 
boys  who  live  in  town  with  their  parents  are  the  hard- 
est sort  to  keep  any  kind  of  check  on,  and  they  seldom 
have  the  self-reliance  that  those  boys  have  who  are 
away  from  home  and  working  out  their  own  difficul- 
ties. 

I  appreciate  the  fact  that  it  brings  the  keenest 


80  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

pleasure  to  parents,  especially  to  mothers,  to  make 
these  sacrifices,  to  perform  these  services,  to  have 
their  children  with  them  and  to  give  them  their  con- 
stant thought  and  attention.  It  requires  a  wise  head 
and  a  strong  will  and  often  real  mental  suffering  to 
keep  the  hands  off.  I  remember  the  saying  of  a  well- 
known  physician  that  cuddling  was  good  for  a  mother 
but  harmful  for  her  baby;  so  experience  has  taught 
me  that  this  loving,  anxious  care  for  youngest  sons 
and  only  children,  this  indulgence  and  sacrifice  on 
the  part  of  parents,  this  constant  thought  and  plan- 
ning for  their  present  and  for  their  future  no  doubt 
develops  and  strengthens  the  characters  of  the  par- 
ents but  it  is  seldom  good  for  their  sons. 

"  What  fault  do  you  find  with  my  son  ?  "  a  mother 
asked  me  a  few  days  ago  wlien  we  were  talking  on 
this  subject.  "  Isn't  he  a  credit  to  me;  has  he  not 
succeeded  ?     How  have  I  spoiled  him  ?  " 

I  parried  her  question  by  saying  that  she  was,  per- 
haps, an  illustration  of  the  mother  who  has  sensibly 
met  all  these  conditions  and  who  has  not  robbed  her 
soil  of  his  independence  by  doing  his  thinking  for 
bini.  I  knew  very  well,  however,  that  though  lie  was 
a  fellow  of  excellent  intellect  who  had  done  his  col- 
lege work  creditably,  he  had  been  over-fastidious  and 
ladylike,  disliking  to  soil  his  hands  with  hard  work. 
He  had  been  made  selfisli  and  self-centered.  He  had 
not  succeeded  at  first ;  it  was  only  after  years  of  con- 
tact with  shrewd  men  in  a  profession  that  tests  men's 
characters  for  real  worth,  and  which  holds  up  snob- 
bishness and  superficiality  to  derision,  it  was  only 
after  he  had  married  a  sensible  woman  who  knew  how 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        81 

to  stimulate  him  to  his  best  endeavor,  that  he  showed 
that  there  was  really  good  stuff  in  him. 

Such  boys  as  I  have  been  discussing  are  not  always 
failures  in  college;  on  the  contrary  they  not  infre- 
quently get  high  grades  and  do  the  routine  work  of 
college  excellently,  but  their  training  almost  always 
shows  in  their  characters.  They  are  too  often  selfish 
and  extravagant ;  they  are  on  the  look-out  for  conces- 
sions and  special  favors;  they  want  a  longer  vacation 
than  other  students  in  order  that  they  may  satis^fv 
special  desires.  They  have  been  so  used  to  special 
consideration  all  their  lives  that  they  are  unable  to 
understand  why  they  can  not  receive  it  when  they 
get  to  college. 

"  I  ought  not  to  spend  so  much  money  as  I  do,"  an 
undergraduate  confessed  to  me  recently,  "  mother 
can't  afford  it;  she  is  making  sacrifices  for  me  con- 
stantly. She  does  her  own  work  and  takes  care  of 
the  furnace,  and  gives  up  most  of  the  pleasures  she 
would  enjoy,  simply  that  I  may  have  a  generous  al- 
lowance. She  is  always  sending  me  boxes  of  things 
to  eat,  and  entertaining  my  friends,  and  looking  out 
for  my  comfort,  and  I  selfishly  let  her  do  it."  This 
selfishness  of  his  showed  in  his  relations  with  his 
friends  of  whom  he  had  too  few,  it  showed  in  his  col- 
lege work  which  was  usually  in  a  bad  way,  and  it  was 
a  constant  blot  upon  his  character.  He  was  exacting 
in  his  demands  upon  those  with  whom  he  associated ; 
he  borrowed  notes  and  books  which  were  never  re- 
turned until  they  were  sent  for,  he  asked  for  help 
in  his  work  whenever  and  wherever  he  could  get  it; 
he  had  never  made  sacrifices  or  depended  upon  him- 


82  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

self  at  home  and  it  was  hard  for  him  to  begin  at  col- 
lege. 

Last  Christmas  1  had  a  dozen  letters  from  as  many 
mothers  whose  only  sons  had  not  been  home  since 
the  opening  of  college  in  September  begging  me,  in 
violation  of  the  college  rules,  to  let  them  come  home 
a  few  days  early  —  they  were  homesick. 

"  Won't  you  please  let  my  son  come  home  four 
days  early,"  one  mother  wrote,  "  I  have  not  seen  him 
for  several  weeks,  and  because  he  is  our  only  child 
I  know  you  will  make  this  special  concession  in  his 
case."  When  I  answered  that  I  regretted  not  to  be 
able  to  grant  her  request  the  father  wrote  and  per- 
suaded a  special  friend  of  mine  with  whom  he  was 
acquainted  to  write  also  to  plead  for  the  special  priv- 
ilege. 

Though  it  is  true,  as  I  have  said,  that  some  of  these 
younger  sons  and  only  children  succeed  in  carrying 
their  college  work  satisfactorily,  that  they  overcome 
their  handicap,  yet  a  very  large  percentage  of  them 
fail  or  do  their  work  in  a  commonplace  way.  This 
is  not  strange,  for  they  find  it  difficult  on  their  own 
initiative  to  do  anything  regularly  or  thoroughly. 
There  is  no  one  to  set  tliem  to  their  tasks,  and  they 
have  seldom  formed  the  liahit  of  setting  themselves 
to  duty  and  its  accomplisliincnt.  They  have  mostly 
been  told  wliat  to  do,  and  so  now  when  there  is  no 
one  to  tell  tliem  to  study,  to  get  them  u])  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  to  get  tliem  ofT  to  tlieir  college  classes,  they 
are  likely  to  find  tliemsolvos  in  bod  at  ten  o'clock  in 
the  morning  when  they  should  have  been  at  chemistry 
at  eight;  they  are  pretty  sure  to  put  off  their  study 
until  to-morrow  when  there  is  a  vaudeville  to  which 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        83 

they  may  go  to-day.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how 
they  find  their  way  to  the  Dean's  office  very  early  in 
their  college  course.  They  find  the  college  life  more 
strenuous  than  they  had  expected,  and  never  before 
having  done  anything  that  was  difficult  or  disagree- 
able, they  do  not  see  why  they  should  do  so  now. 

"  Why  did  you  not  let  me  know  that  my  son  was 
not  doing  his  work  ?  "  a  mother  wrote  me  not  long 
ago,  "  and  I  should  have  come  down  and  stayed  with 
him  until  he  got  his  work  up.  I  have  never  let  him 
get  behind  while  he  was  in  high  school,  and  I  can 
not  understand  why  he  is  failing  now."  The  trouble 
all  lay  in  the  fact  that  previously  his  mother  had  been 
his  conscience;  he  had  not  learned  self -direction  in 
any  sense ;  and  having  no  director  he  loafed  and  slept 
late  in  the  mornings. 

It  is  the  spoiled  boy  at  home  who  in  college  de- 
velops into  the  loafer  and  the  indifferent  student. 
His  parents  often  do  not  set  for  him  especially  high 
standards ;  they  are  pleased  if  he  does  not  fail ;  they 
are  satisfied  to  have  him  merely  intellectually  com- 
monplace. And  since  they  are  contented,  he  has  for 
himself  no  high  intellectual  ambitions ;  he  prides  him- 
self that  he  is  not  a  grind  and  pats  himself  metaphor- 
ically upon  the  back  when  he  evades  probation. 

It  is  this  same  spoiled  boy  also  who  in  college 
evades  everything  that  is  unpleasant  or  difficult.  He 
is  in  few  college  activities  because  to  get  into  activi- 
ties requires  initiative  and  sacrifice,  and  it  demands 
usually  more  than  ordinarily  high  scholarship.  He 
has  not  learned  to  economize  either  his  time  or  his 
money ;  he  does  not  know  how  to  make  sacrifices,  and 
he  can  not  give  up  tlie  petty  gratification  or  pleasure 


84  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

of  the  moment  in  order  that  he  may  later  enjoy  a 
greater  and  a  more  worthy  pleasure. 

I  can  understand  the  interest  of  parents  in  their 
children  and  their  desire  to  save  them  from  sacrifice 
and  hardship  and  pain  and  struggle,  but  as  they  are 
shielded  from  the  difficult  they  are  often  harmed;  in 
trying  to  help  them  we  often  hinder.  Protecting  and 
coddling  them  unfits  them  for  the  hardships  of  life 
which  they  are  as  sure  to  meet  as  the  sun  is  to  rise. 

I  said  at  the  outset  that  my  father  died  when  I 
was  fifteen.  Up  to  that  time  T  had  taken  no  re- 
sponsibility. I  had  had  no  tasks,  no  difficult  prob- 
lems. I  had  made  no  sacrifices.  I  luid  lived  a  life 
of  pleasure  and  irresponsibility.  Circumstances  in 
the  family  were  such  that  at  my  father's  death  it  was 
imperative  that  I  should  run  the  farm  on  which  we 
were  living.  I  must  do  a  man's  work.  I  must  be 
up  in  the  morning  by  four  o'clock  without  being 
called,  and  out  in  the  fields  plowing  and  sowing  and 
reaping  and  looking  after  all  the  varied  interests 
which  have  to  do  with  farm  life.  If  my  strength 
was  slight  I  must  work  faster  or  longer  in  order  to 
accomplish  as  much  as  the  older  and  stronger  work- 
men. I  kept  at  it  eight  years  and  until  1  entered 
college.  It  seemed  then  a  cruel  hard  life  for  an  in- 
experienced child.  Often  when  the  load  was  heavy 
and  the  problems  difficult  to  solve,  in  my  heart  I  re- 
belled against  my  lot ;  but  1  kept  on,  in  spite  of  the 
rebellion,  and  finished  my  tasks.  ^lother  encouraged 
me,  but  she  could  give  little  help,  little  direction,  lit- 
tle suggestion.  I  must  meet  my  own  difficulties  and 
solve  them  alone,  as  I  have  since  learned  every  one 
must  do  in  life  and  in  death.     1  look  back  now  to  this 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        85 

experience  as  the  best  which  could  have  come  to  me; 
it  was  my  salvation.  It  gave  me  hard  muscles  and 
a  strong  body  and  a  strong  will;  it  showed  me  that 
one  must  have  backbone  and  principles  if  he  would 
win  the  respect  of  men  ;  it  taught  me  courage  and  self- 
reliance  and  initiative ;  through  it  I  was  able  to  find 
myself,  and  by  it  I  was  helped  to  overcome  the  handi- 
cap under  which  many  another  youngest  son  or  only 
child  is  struggling. 

I  was  trying  not  long  ago  to  help  the  father  of  an 
only  son  to  solve  his  difficulties.  The  boy  had  been 
dismissed  from  college  because  he  had  failed  through 
loafing  and  irregular  habits.  The  father  was  a  man 
of  moderate  means,  but  the  boy  had  had  every  in- 
dulgence and  no  responsibility. 

"  What  shall  I  do  with  him  ?  "  was  his  query. 

"  Put  him  to  work  for  a  year,"  was  my  reply ; 
"  give  him  something  difficult  to  do,  and  let  him  see 
how  hard  it  is  to  earn  his  living." 

"  I  have  a  farm,"  he  went  on,  "  I  could  put  him 
out  there ;  but  it  would  be  a  hard  life.  He  would 
have  no  pleasure ;  the  surroundings  would  not  be  such 
as  he  has  been  used  to,  but  I'll  do  it." 

"  If  you  do,"  I  warned  him,  "  you  will  have  a  more 
severe  struggle  than  the  boy.  After  your  disappoint- 
ment has  grown  a  little  less  keen  you  will  go  out  to 
the  farm  some  day,  and  you  will  see  the  boy  dirty 
and  perspiring  and  tired  and  your  heart  will  be 
touched ;  you  will  say,  '  Why  should  I  torture  him  in 
this  way,'  and  unless  you  are  a  strong  man  you'll 
bring  him  away  with  you." 

"  I  believe  I  shall,"  he  said  shamefacedly,  "  I  be- 
lieve I  haven't  the  courage  to  do  otherwise." 


86  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

"  But  you  could  make  a  man  of  him,"  I  pleaded  as 
he  left  me. 

A  friend  of  mine,  a  wise  woman  with  one  son,  had 
more  courafre.  The  boy,  wlio  was  in  the  high  school, 
got  it  into  his  head  that  he  would  like  to  earn  a  little 
money,  and  having  a  job  offered  him  accepted  it. 
ITiis  work  necessitated  his  getting  up  at  five  in  the 
morning  and  working  until  time  to  start  to  school. 

"It  must  be  rather  hard  on  you,"  a  sympathetic 
neighbor  said  to  his  mother  one  day,  "  getting  up  so 
early  in  the  morning  to  get  William's  breakfast  and 
to  get  him  off." 

"  But  T  don't  get  up,"  was  the  mother's  reply. 
"  When  William  took  the  job  I  cxpUiined  to  him  that 
he  must  manage  himself:  if  he  lost  the  place  through 
failure  to  get  there  on  time,  it  was  his  own  fault. 
So  he  bought  a  '  Big  Ben  '  to  awaken  him  at  the 
proper  time;  he  gets  his  own  breakfast,  and  he  has 
never  been  late  one  morning.  It  took  a  lot  of  cour- 
age and  self-control  for  me  to  hear  him  coming  down 
stairs  before  daylight  these  cold  winter  mornings  and 
not  to  get  up  and  help  him  off,  but  William's  char- 
acter is  worth  more  to  me  than  my  own  selfish  com- 
fort in  looking  after  him."  She  has  been  a  thousand 
times  rewarded  in  the  years  that  have  followed  in  the 
strong,  sturdy,  self-reliant  son  to  wliom  she  now  looks 
up.  Her  way  is  the  only  way  I  know  to  make  men 
of  character  and  self-reliance  and  independence. 

No  one  gains  strength  except  througli  struggle; 
self-reliance  comes  tlirough  meeting  liardships. 
There  is  no  strengtii  of  cliai-acter  without  sacrifice, 
and  as  we  make  it  easy  for  our  children,  as  we  save 
them  from  the  hard,  unpleasant  tilings  of  life  unduly 


YOUNGEST  SONS  AND  ONLY  CHILDREN        87 

we  do  them  damage.  It  is  the  boy  who  has  learned  to 
do  a  task  that  is  given  him  whether  he  likes  it  or  not, 
who  can  direct  himself  and  look  after  himself,  who 
does  not  shrink  from  difficult  and  unpleasant  things, 
who  does  not  hesitate  at  sacrifice  or  self-control,  who 
has  been  taught  to  tliink  of  the  comfort  and  pleasure 
of  others  as  well  as  of  his  own  —  it  is  this  sort  of  boy 
who  is  going  to  get  on  in  college  and  whose  home 
training  will  show  before  he  has  been  in  the  college 
community  a  week.  Such  boys  are  to  a  college  officer 
like  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land.  The 
spoiled,  humored  boy  who  has  been  kept  from  hard- 
ships and  sacrifice,  no  matter  with  what  loving  care, 
will  hardly  escape  a  weak  youth  and  a  selfish  ineffec- 
tive manhood. 

A  brown  thrasher  has  a  nest  in  our  sweet  honey- 
suckle, and  for  weeks  we  have  been  interested  in 
watching  her  movements.  Just  now  she  is  teaching 
her  children  to  fly,  and  it  seems  to  an  onlooker  no 
trifling  task.  I  said  "  children,"  for  though  we  have 
never  so  trespassed  upon  the  privacy  of  our  shy  ten- 
ant as  to  look  into  her  dwelling,  I  am  sure  from  the 
way  in  which  she  has  been  conducting  her  child's 
education  that  tliere  is  more  than  one  little  thrasher 
in  the  nest.  It  was  no  only  child  who  was  being  put 
through  his  exercises  this  morning. 

The  first  sound  that  caught  my  ear  when  I  wak- 
ened was  the  voice  of  the  mother,  firm  and  insistent, 
directing  and  encouraging  her  child.  When  I  went 
to  the  window  I  saw  the  prospective  young  aeronaut, 
tailless  and  nervous,  perched  on  the  telephone  wire. 
He  was  very  tottery  and  was  whimpering  audibly, 
but  I  could  tell  from  the  stron?  notes  of  his  mother's 


88  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

voice  coming  from  the  lilac  bushes  that  she  was  not 
to  be  moved  by  his  tears.  He  must  take  the  initia- 
tive; he  must  make  the  leap.  She  kept  after  him 
vigorously  flying  toward  him  in  a  most  threatening 
manner  occasionally,  until  finally,  screwing  up  his 
courage,  he  spread  his  little  wings  and  landed  safe 
in  the  honeysuckle.  A  moment  later  I  saw  the 
mother  fly  into  the  nest  with  a  big  juicy  worm  in  her 
bill.  It  was  bad  pedagogy,  but  she  had  taught  him 
self-reliance  and  self-direction.  Later  in  the  day  he 
seemed  to  have  developed  a  considerable  initiative, 
and  was  helping  his  mother  with  the  housework  by 
bringing  home  a  few  choice  worms  for  the  younger 
children's  supper. 

It  is  not  easy  to  train  either  young  birds  or  young 
people  properly.  The  most  of  us  who  have  been 
pushed  out  early  and  have  had  to  rely  upon  our- 
selves hesitate  to  do  the  same  thing  for  tlie  young 
people  whom  we  had  under  our  direction.  We  would 
fain  save  them  the  danger  and  the  pain.  So  many 
youngest  sons  and  only  children  liave  been  kept  so 
completely  from  that  whicli  is  unpleasant  or  difficult, 
tliey  liave  licon  so  coddled  and  ])ampered  that  they 
shrink  back  when  tlie  ti\<t  comes.  They  grow  selfish 
and  lack  initiative  and  self-reliance.  They  do  not 
like  that  which  is  difficult.  They  have  whimpered, 
and  mother  has  told  tliem  that  they  need  not  learn  to 
fly. 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  " 

There  was  a  letter  in  my  mail  this  morning  from 
a  young  boy  just  out  of  high  school.  He  was  desir- 
ous of  going  to  college,  and  like  many  another  man 
with  high  ambition,  he  was  without  money. 

"  Could  you  find  for  me,"  he  asked,  "  some  posi- 
tion which  would  not  interfere  with  my  studies,  and 
which  would  bring  me  in  an  income  of  not  less  than 
fifteen  dollars  a  week  ?  " 

I  was  forced  to  write  him  that  I  could  not ;  that  al- 
most any  job  which  lie  might  obtain  would  interfere 
with  his  studies,  and  that  if  he  were  to  earn  fifteen 
dollars  a  week,  unless  he  were  possessed  of  some  spe- 
cific trade  or  skill  worth  a  higli  rate  of  remuneration, 
it  would  be  only  by  working  six  hours  a  day  or  more, 
and  such  an  amount  of  time  given  to  outside  labor 
would  interfere  very  seriously  with  any  one's  studies. 

Tliere  are  a  great  many  people  wlio  labor  under  the 
mistaken  notion  that  it  actually  is  helpful  to  a  college 
student's  scholarship  for  him  to  work.  I  have  known 
parents  who  were  quite  able  to  meet  their  son's  col- 
lege expenses,  but  who  refused  to  do  so  under  the 
false  impression  that  they  were  doing  the  boy  a  service 
by  forcing  him  to  earn  his  living.  "  It  will  make  a 
man  of  him,"  they  affirm.  "  It  will  teach  him  the 
value  of  a  dollar."  It  may,  but  it  will  seldom  if 
ever  conduce  to  making  him  a  good  student,  and  that 
should  be  his  object  in  going  to  college. 

89 


90  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

President  Liiu-oln  in  a  note  to  Mayor  Ramsey  once 
wrote :  "  Tlie  lady  bearer  of  this  note  says  she  has 
two  sons  who  want  to  work.  Set  them  at  it  if  pos- 
sible. Wanting  work  is  so  rare  a  want  that  it  should 
be  encouraged."  A  college  officer  in  my  position  at 
the  opening  of  the  college  year  would  not  be  inclined 
to  agree  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  for  half  the  correspond- 
ence which  comes  to  my  desk  during  the  summer 
months  has  to  do  with  men  who  either  want  to  work, 
or  who  say  they  do,  in  order  that  tliey  may  defray 
their  college  expenses.  There  are  so  many  of  them 
that  their  correspondence  becomes  almost  depress- 
ing at  times,  for  I  realize  the  disappointments  and 
the  difficulties  which  very  many  of  these  boys  will 
encounter  after  they  reach  college,  and  their  unfit- 
ness to  do  any  definite  work  well. 

"  I  have  been  out  of  liigh  scliool  three  years,"  one 
young  fellow  writes,  "  and  liave  not  been  able  to 
save  any  money.  T  want,  however,  very  mucli  to  go 
to  college.  Can  you  secure  a  place  for  me  to  work 
where  I  can  earn  my  l)oard  and  room  and  such  ex- 
tra money  as  T  sliall  need  for  my  other  small  ex- 
penses?" This  man,  who  has  given  all  his  time  to 
work  for  three  years  and  who  lias  done  nothing  more 
than  live,  expects  easily  to  carry  a  college  course 
which  in  itself  requires  most  of  a  man's  time  to  do 
justice  to,  and  at  the  same  time  to  earn  his  living  on 
the  side.  I  get  many  sucli  letters  from  those  who 
feel  that  earning  one's  living  and  going  to  college 
are  in  no  way  incompatible.  So  much  has  been 
written  about  the  fellows  who  have  started  to  college 
without  a  cent  and  who  have  later  been  valedictorians 
of    their    classes    and    ultimately    President    of    the 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  91 

United  States,  or  at  least  a  member  of  his  cabinet, 
that  the  average  high  school  boy  has  little  concep- 
tion of  what  sacrifice  and  deprivation  such  a  pro- 
cedure involves;  if  he  did  understand  he  would  no.t 
so  often  undertake  it,  or  he  would  do  so  after  more 
careful  deliberation. 

Tlie  man  who  works  his  way  through  college  sel- 
dom does  so  because  he  enjoys  working  nor,  except- 
ing in  rare  cases,  because  he  has  any  interest  in  the 
particular  line  of  work  by  which  he  earns  his  living. 
He  works  from  necessity ;  his  chief  thought,  com- 
monly, is  not  centered  upon  the  efficiency  of  his  serv- 
ice nor  the  value  of  his  work  to  his  employer,  but 
upon  the  amount  of  cold  cash  it  is  going  to  net  him. 
Very  few  boys  who  are  working  their  way  through 
college  are  interested  in  the  work  they  are  doing  for 
its  own  sake  or  for  the  personal  development  there 
is  in  it  for  them  ;  they  have  little  thouglit  of  perfect- 
ing their  skill  in  such  work  ;  they  are  looking  for- 
ward eagerly  to  the  time  when  they  may  leave  it  and 
take  up  sometliing  they  really  have  interest  in. 
They  are  for  that  reason  in  many  cases  indifferent, 
inefficient,  and  expensvie  help,  who  lack  the  joy  and 
incentive  of  interest  in  their  work. 

During  my  own  undergraduate  days  I  earned  my 
living  as  a  compositor  on  the  student  paper.  There 
was  no  enthusiasm  in  any  of  the  "  typos,"  as  they 
were  called,  to  perfect  themselves  in  typesetting  ex- 
cepting as  such  perfection  would  lead  to  immediate 
financial  returns,  and  no  idea  of  going  permanently 
into  the  printing  business;  type-setting  was  for  them 
simply  a  makeshift.  They  were  interested  chieily 
in  getting  a  long  "  string  "  and  in  picking  off  the 


92  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

"  fat "  jobs  from  the  hook.  They  were,  of  course, 
never  annoyed  if  incidentally  they  helped  in  getting 
out  a  creditable  paper,  but  that  was  merely  a  side 
issue;  the  main  thing  was  the  pay  envelope.  None 
of  us  would  have  given  a  moment  to  type-setting  if 
a  legacy  had  been  left  us,  or  if  we  could  have  ca- 
joled a  rich  uncle  into  sending  us  a  satisfactory 
monthly  allowance;  we  worked  because  it  was  neces- 
sary to  eat  and  to  pay  our  room  rent. 

Too  many  people  attempt  to  work  their  way 
through  college.  IVFany  of  our  colleges  to-day  are 
overrun  with  students  with  no  money,  with  only 
commonplace  ability,  and  with  little  initiative  and  re- 
sourcefulness. It  is  only  the  exceptional  man  with- 
out money  who  should  go  to  college.  Many  men  say 
that  they  would  not  be  able  to  save  money  if  they 
went  to  work,  but  it  is  as  easy  to  economize  and  to 
save  money  out  of  college  as  it  is  in,  and  the  com- 
monplace student  should  cither  not  go  at  all,  or  he 
should  work  and  save  money  enough  to  allow  him 
to  devote  the  greater  part  of  his  time  to  his  studies; 
otherwise  he  is  likely  to  fail.  The  man  who  works 
his  way  too  often  makes  a  poor  living,  and  gets  little 
college  credit;  he  might  better  stick  to  a  good  job  and 
give  up  the  thought  of  the  higher  education  than  half 
starve  and  finally  flunk  in  college.  The  names  of 
scores  of  boys  occur  to  me  as  I  write  this  sentence 
—  boys  of  only  mediocre  ability  —  who  tried  the 
struggle  and  failed. 

In  a  democratic  institution  where  a  large  per- 
centage of  students  work,  the  tendency  is  for  even  the 
man  who  is  under  no  such  necessity  to  try  to  add  to 
his  income.     When  a  fellow's  roommate  is  receiving 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  93 

a  pay  check  every  month,  it  seems  to  a  good  many 
men,  even  though  they  do  not  stand  in  need  of  the 
money,  inexcusable  not  to  do  something.  Some- 
times the  man  who  needs  the  money  least  is  most 
skillful  and  clever  in  earning  it.  I  have  in  mind  two 
young  men  who  were  adept  at  salesmanship  but  who 
were  quite  able  to  meet  all  their  college  expenses. 
They  constantly  endangered  their  college  work 
through  the  unreasonable  amount  of  time  they  put  in 
in  their  business  enterprises.  Their  father,  who  was 
a  shrewd,  close-fisted  business  man,  was  extremely 
proud  of  their  earnings,  never  realizing  that  in 
spending  so  much  of  tlieir  time  in  making  a  few  dol- 
lars they  were  detracting  very  materially  from  the 
efficiency  of  their  education. 

Most  of  the  things  which  have  been  written  of 
boys  without  education,  like  Lincoln,  who  ultimately 
became  President  of  the  United  States,  or  of  fellows 
with  only  fifty  cents  in  their  pocket  who  got  through 
college  on  their  nerve  and  made  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  are 
romantic,  but  quite  misleading.  These  things  have 
been  done  (there  are  the  immortal  Garfield,  and 
Daniel  Webster,  of  course),  and  they  are  still  being 
done  by  men  of  unusual  mental  and  physical  equip- 
ment, but  they  are  not  easy  to  do,  and  they  are  not 
always  desirable  to  do.  The  men  who  accomplished 
these  things  did  so  in  spite  of  their  handicaps  and  not 
because  of  them. 

I  have  known  many  a  man  who  paid  in  privation 
and  sacrifice  more  than  his  college  training  was 
worth ;  for  he  was  so  engrossed  and  his  time  so  oc- 
cupied in  the  struggle  for  existence  that  he  lost  tlie 
greater  part  of  what  he  should  have  obtained  from 


94  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

his  college  life  and  associations.  The  memory  of 
Allan  comes  to  me  as  I  write.  He  was  at  best  medi- 
ocre intellectually,  and  socially  ho  was  completely  un- 
trained. It  was  his  dogged  stubborn  persistence  only 
that  carried  him  through.  He  was  like  a  bull  dog 
which  had  taken  hold  and  could  not  let  go.  He  liad 
little  resourcefulness,  little  initiative,  so  that  there 
was  nothing  open  to  him  but  the  most  menial  physi- 
cal tasks.  He  had  few  friends  and  he  was  often 
without  sufficient  food.  He  slept  in  a  stable  during 
more  than  half  his  life  in  college  and  did  the  dirty 
scullery  work  at  a  cheap  untidy  down-town  restaur- 
ant for  his  meals.  He  reeked  constantly  of  stable 
odors  and  of  the  heavy  smells  of  frying  food.  His 
wretched  life  told  on  him  physically  and  mentally ; 
he  grew  hard,  bitter,  sullen.  He  felt,  not  wholly 
without  reason,  that  every  one  was  against  him, 
that  he  was  fighting  alone  and  a  losing  fight.  He 
got  his  degree,  but  he  left  college  coarse,  soured, 
repellant,  ill-trained,  without  courage  to  fight  longer 
and  without  hope  for  the  future.  He  has  not  ac- 
complished as  much  since  he  received  his  college  de- 
gree as  lie  might  reasonably  have  been  expected  to 
do  without  education. 

The  boy  who  works  his  way  through  college,  and 
by  this  I  mean  the  student  who  gets  no  help  from 
any  other  source  excepting  his  own  efforts,  must  first 
of  all  have  concentration,  for  he  will  of  necessity 
have  less  time  to  devote  to  his  studies  than  have  those 
fellows  whose  entire  time  is  at  their  (]is{)osal.  Tliere 
is  a  pretty  general  idea  that  the  man  in  college  who 
does  not  earn  a  good  part  of  his  living  is  on  the 
whole  a  loafer  and  a  spendthrift,  who  has  so  many 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  95 

vacant  hours  at  his  disposal  during  the  day  that,  un- 
less he  gets  into  some  sort  of  deviltry  or  extravagance, 
he  is  likely  to  grow  horribly  bored.  Quite  the  con- 
trary is  true;  for  the  college  course  as  now  planned, 
if  it  is  done  well,  will  give  any  ordinary  young  fel- 
low ,  enough  to  occupy  his  time  quite  creditably. 
The  man,  then,  who  besides  doing  his  college  work 
has  to  earn  his  living,  will  need  to  give  his  whole 
time  to  it,  should  be  able  to  accomplish  more  in  the 
same  length  of  time  tlian  the  average  fellow,  and 
must  be  satisfied  to  have  little  leisure  in  which  to 
read,  or  play,  or  develop  social  graces,  or  do  as  he 
likes. 

A  young  fellow  —  strong  and  healthy  looking  — 
dropped  in  to  see  me  one  day  this  week.  He  was 
ambitious  but  broke.  If  he  came  to  college,  he  must 
make  his  way.  He  had  on  hand  scarcely  more  than 
enough  money  to  pay  his  initial  tuition  and  get  his 
books.  We  went  over  his  plans  together,  and  I 
tliought  that  perhaps  he  might  try  it.  "  There  is 
one  tiling  1  did  not  tell  you,"  he  said  just  as  he  was 
ready  to  leave,  "  I  have  always  been  interested  in 
athletics,  and  if  1  come  to  college,  1  shall  want  to 
play  football." 

I  threw  up  my  hands,  for  even  playing  football 
sometimes  gives  a  man  little  enough  time  for  his 
studies,  but  if  a  man  plays  football  and  earns  his  liv- 
ing, he  lias  little  time  for  sleej),  and  none  for  his 
studies.  The  athlete  is  lucky  if  he  passes  his 
courses  with  creditable  grades ;  he  can  seldom  give 
much  thouglit  or  time  to  earning  his  living. 

The  boy  who  must  work  should  be  mature  and 
strong,   and   by    that   I    mean    usually   nineteen   or 


96  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

twenty  years  of  age.  The  burden  is  often  too  great 
for  a  young  boy  to  assume,  for  such  boys  are  often 
forced  to  live  irregularly,  and  to  keep  irregular 
hours  either  to  bring  up  their  college  work  or  to  do 
their  outside  tasks.  Not  long  ago  a  young  fellow, 
still  physically  immature,  called  at  my  office  to  ask 
my  advice.  He  had  little  energy,  he  said,  and  little 
interest  in  his  work.  He  found  it  difficult,  when  he 
sat  down  to  a  task,  to  accomplish  much.  I  discov- 
ered on  inquiry  that  he  was  working  for  a  physician. 
He  was  forced  to  sit  up  until  midnight  to  do  his  col- 
lege tasks,  and  he  had  to  get  up  at  four  or  at  latest 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  accomplish  the 
things  necessary  to  hold  his  job  with  the  doctor. 
He  was,  therefore,  getting  never  more  than  five  hours 
of  sleep  a  day,  and  yet  could  not  understand  why  he 
was  so  lacking  in  energy  and  ambition.  I  have 
always  felt  that  it  was  a  wise  and  thoughtful  phys- 
ician with  whom  he  was  living.  This  slender,  grow- 
ing boy  was  attempting  an  impossible  task,  and  in 
addition  to  failing  in  it  —  for  he  did  not  carry  his 
work  —  he  was  in  a  fair  way  permanently  to  injure 
his  health. 

I'he  student  worker  should  be  resourceful  and 
adaptable,  able  to  fit  in  anywhere,  and  able  to  use 
his  brain  in  his  work.  It  is  tiie  man  who  first  meets 
an  unsolved  condition  or  satisfies  an  unsatisfied  want 
who  makes  good  at  earning  a  living.  Last  fall  a 
young  freshman  came  to  my  office  to  ask  me  if  I 
had  any  knives  or  scissors  lying  about  which  needed 
sharpening.  He  carried  with  him  in  a  neat  leather 
case  which  resembled  a  Corona  typewriter,  with  its 
traveling  clothes  on,  a  small  emery  wheel  and  some 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  97 

simple  apparatus  for  repairing  and  sharpening  tools. 
I  had  just  been  trying  to  hew  a  broken  lead  pencil 
into  shape  with  an  impossibly  dull  knife,  so  that  his 
coming  seemed  like  an  angel's  visit.  I  gathered  up 
all  the  paraphernalia  in  tlie  office  which  permitted  of 
sharpening,  and  he  went  at  it.  They  were  in  a  few 
minutes  in  excellent  condition,  he  collected  a  quar- 
ter, and  I  sent  him  over  to  my  house  to  make  the  rest 
of  my  family  happy.  I  kept  my  eye  on  him  during 
the  year,  and  was  not  surprised  to  find  that  he  was 
making  a  good  living  during  his  leisure  moments 
because  he  had  had  intelligence  enough  to  meet  an 
unsatisfied  want. 

Several  years  ago,  before  the  business  of  pressing 
men's  clothes  and  keeping  them  in  condition  had  been 
taken  up  generally,  one  of  our  freshmen  rented  a 
room,  bought  the  necessary  apparatus,  and  agreed 
for  one  dollar  a  month  to  press  a  suit  of  clothes 
each  week,  and  to  call  for  the  clothes  and  deliver 
them.  It  was  at  that  time  an  innovation,  and  even 
with  one  or  two  assistants,  he  soon  had  more  business 
than  he  could  take  care  of.  He  had  a  business  head, 
he  kept  his  agreements,  he  did  his  work  well,  and 
he  was  soon  one  of  the  financially  independent  who 
could  oversee  his  business  and  let  some  one  else  do 
the  manual  labor.  I  always  had  the  assurance  that 
he  would  get  on  wherever  lie  went,  and  I  have  not 
been  mistaken.  He  is  successfully  running  a  fruit 
farm  down  in  Florida  now,  and  last  Christmas  I  had 
a  pleasant  note  from  him  accompanied  by  a  box  of 
delicious  grapefruit  whicli  caused  my  family  to  re- 
member him  kindly  for  many  a  morning. 

The  skilled  lal)orer,  the  man  who  has  a  trade  or  a 


98  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

talent  will  get  on  more  easily  than  other  men.  Last 
year  a  young  sophomore  found  himself  without 
money  and  without  a  job.  He  saw  an  advertisement 
in  the  college  paper  for  a  cook  in  one  of  the  short 
order  restaurants  near  the  campus.  He  had  helped 
his  mother  cook  at  home,  he  had  had  a  month's  ex- 
perience cooking  in  a  summer  camp  for  boys;  he  had 
some  nerve,  so  he  applied  for  the  place  and  got  it. 
The  best  part  of  the  story  is  that  lie  gave  satisfac- 
tion, earned  his  board,  and  made  a  respectable  salary 
besides. 

The  undergraduate  who  last  year  at  the  University 
of  Hlinois  made  the  most  money  of  any  one  who  was 
trying  to  earn  his  living,  did  so  by  writing  songs. 
His  poetic  efforts  were  in  no  sense  remarkable ;  in 
fact  I  am  not  sure  but  that  the  same  thing  miglit  be 
said  of  most  of  those  words  and  music  which  are  ring- 
ing in  our  ears  most  often  as  we  go  down  the  street, 
hut  what  this  young  fellow  wrote  seemed  to  catch 
the  popular  ear,  and  he  reaped  the  reward  of  his  ap- 
peal. He  had  a  certain  talent  that  was  not  great, 
perhaps,  but  it  was  not  common. 

Jt  is  tlie  man  who  lets  his  brains  save  his  strength, 
who  makes  the  most  money.  In  fact  it  is  most  often 
the  man  who  does  not  work  at  all  physically  but 
who  uses  his  head  to  make  his  j)lans  and  who  hires 
some  less  clever  thinkers  to  take  the  hard  knocks, — 
it  is  this  sort  of  fellow  who  really  earns  his  way 
through  college  most  successfully.  A  wide  awake 
junior  last  year  made  arrangements  with  a  city 
wholesale  house  to  take  orders  for  butter.  Karly  in 
the  fall  he  made  a  preliminary  canvass  of  all  the 
fraternitv  houses  and  general  student  boarding  clubs. 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  99 

and  took  their  orders  for  the  year.  Each  house  is 
sent  so  many  pounds  a  week  directly  from  the  city. 
There  is  no  further  ordering  and  no  delivering  by 
the  student;  all  lie  has  to  do  is  to  send  out  the 
monthly  bills  and  make  his  collections.  With  little 
real  work  he  has  made  considerably  more  than  enough 
to  pay  his  college  expenses.  When  he  gets  through 
college  he  will  have  several  hundred  dollars  to  his 
credit  in  the  bank  with  which  to  start  business.  "  I 
could  clear  two  thousand  dollars  a  year  at  the  work," 
he  admitted  to  me,  "  if  I  wanted  to  give  the  time  to 
it,  but  I  don't  believe  in  making  too  much." 

T  have  said  before  that  the  man  who  must  meet  all 
of  his  expenses  wliile  doing  his  college  work  must  be 
mature  and  physically  strong.  A  young  fellow  past 
twenty-five,  who  graduated  from  one  of  our  Middle 
West  state  universities  last  year  illustrates  my  point. 
He  had  learned  to  operate  a  linotype  machine  and 
was  beside  this  a  pliysical  giant.  When  he  came  to 
college  he  was  put  on  a  night  shift  in  one  of  the  local 
printing  offices.  He  did  his  studying  in  the  after- 
noon and  in  the  evening;  he  did  his  full  day's  work 
in  the  printing  office  after  seven  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, and  he  got  on  with  from  five  to  seven  hours  of 
sleep  a  day  and  incidentally  earned  eiglity  dollars  a 
month  throughout  his  college  course.  He  had  so 
much  money  in  the  bank  wlien  he  finislied  that  he 
was  able  to  marry  on  tlie  day  of  liis  graduation  and 
set  up  housekeeping  for  himself.  T  sliould  not.  how- 
ever, advise  m^iiiy  people  to  try  to  duplicate  liis  task, 
for  very  few  undergraduates  would  have  either  the 
skill  or  the  pliysical  endurance  to  do  the  work  that 
lie  did.     With  all  his  strenetli,  too,  he  knew  his  limi- 


100  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

tations.  His  work,  his  studies,  and  sleep  took  up  all 
his  time.  He  had  no  recreation,  no  social  pleasures, 
no  real  fun. 

Fifty  years  ago  when  the  farmer's  son  with  an 
empty  pocketbook  and  a  desire  for  learning  set  out 
for  college,  he  carried  with  him  a  bag  of  potatoes  or  a 
sax?k  of  corn  meal  upon  which  to  subsist  frugally 
while  he  toiled  at  his  books.  It  is  done  differently 
to-day.  A  few  years  ago  the  sons  of  the  families  of 
two  farmers  with  whom  I  am  acquainted  solved  their 
financial  diflficulties  and  met  their  college  expenses  in 
an  entirely  individual  manner.  They  borrowed  a  few 
of  the  family  cows,  drove  tliem  across  the  country, 
found  a  lodging  place  for  themselves  and  their 
cliarges  near  the  campus,  and  lived  comfortably  and 
independently  during  their  college  course  by  selling 
and  delivering  milk  to  boarding  clubs  mornings  and 
evenings.  When  they  left  college  they  still  had  tlieir 
original  capital  intact,  and  took  it  back  home  with 
them  in  as  good  condition,  barring  the  wear  and  tear 
of  four  years  of  service,  as  when  they  came. 

Barbers  seem  always  in  demand  about  a  college 
community,  though  I  have  known  but  one  to  finish 
his  course.  Musicians  usually  find  emplcjyment, 
esj)ecially  if  the  college  is  situated  in  a  country 
place,  as  ours  is,  where  most  of  the  recreation  and 
amusement  of  the  students  they  must  themselves  fur- 
nish. There  is  always  a  good  deal  of  dancing  — 
too  much  in  fact  many  people  say  —  coiniected  with 
a  large  co-educational  institution,  and  where  there 
is  dancing  there  must  be  music  —  ragtime  or  other- 
wise. At  the  University  of  Illinois  most  of  the  local 
orchestras    are    composed    largely    of    students,    and 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  101 

many  of  them  are  controlled  or  managed  by  student 
leaders.  These  men  all  belong  to  the  musicians' 
union  and  receive  the  regular  scale  of  wages,  which 
is  a  pretty  generous  one,  set  by  the  union.  Since 
most  of  the  engagements  of  these  orchestras  come  at 
the  end  of  the  week,  the  members  often  have  a  chance 
to  play  two  evenings  and  one  afternoon  a  week,  and 
though  the  physical  strain  is  a  hard  one,  they  find  it 
possible  to  sleep  up  on  Sunday  and  so  be  in  fair 
shape  for  the  regular  scholastic  work  of  the  week.  I 
have  known  a  large  number  of  fellows  who  in  this 
way  met  all  of  their  necessary  expenses  and  a  few 
who  were  able  to  make  more  than  they  really  needed 
while  carrying  their  college  courses,  but  the  number 
of  these  last  is  small. 

The  skillful  salesman  witli  a  line  of  goods  which 
the  public  wants  or  which  it  can  with  a  minimum 
expenditure  of  energy  be  made  to  want,  can  get  on 
well  in  college.  Just  the  other  day,  as  I  was  walking 
down  the  street,  I  encountered  an  energetic  junior 
who  seemed  to  be  bent  on  some  business  enterprise. 

"  What  are  you  doing?  "  I  asked. 

"  I'm  making  a  house  to  house  canvass  for  the  sale 
of  neckties,"  was  his  reply. 

"Making  any  money?" 

"  As  much  as  I  need." 

But  unfortunately  there  are  not  many  natural  or 
skillful  salesmen,  and  when  one  has  no  natural  tal- 
ent in  this  direction,  he  had  better  wait  for  his  sea- 
son of  practice  until  he  is  not  in  actual  need  of 
money.  The  experience  gained  in  learning  to  sell 
things  is  valuable,  but  it  sometimes  costs  more  than 
it  is  worth  if  the  embryo  salesman  is  trying  to  earn 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CAJAFORNIA 
SANTA    RARRAT?A 


102  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

his  college  expenses.  The  last  thiiif];  I  should  advise 
the  indigent  undergraduate  to  do  either  during  the 
college  year  or  during  the  summer  vacation  is  to 
take  up  salesmanship  and  especially  to  take  up  the 
selling  of  books,  for  unless  he  has  peculiar  talent  in 
such  work,  he  is  likely  to  fail,  the  optimistic  litera- 
ture sent  out  by  the  publishers  of  subscription  books 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Every  spring  there 
come  to  our  institution,  as  1  supjwse  to  all  other  sim- 
ilar ones  in  the  Middle  West,  re])rcscnt.atives  of  the 
houses  publishing  su))scription  books  who  give  their 
effort  in  securing  the  services  of  undergraduates  to 
go  out  over  the  country  during  the  summer  to  sell 
these  wares.  Some  of  the  men  who  take  up  the 
work  must  succeed  or  the  publishing  liouses  would 
go  out  of  business,  but  it  is  also  a  fact  that  many  of 
those  who  take  up  the  business  do  badly  and  give 
tlieir  time  and  energy  very  largely  for  experience. 

The  great  majority  of  young  follows  who  are  with- 
out money  and  who  wisli  a  college  education  are 
equally  without  talent  or  special  skill.  It  is,  bow- 
ever,  very  often  the  tales  of  what  men  with  special 
talents  have  done  that  goad  on  the  commonplace  man 
and  deceive  him  into  the  belief  that  he  can  do  as  well 
in  earning  a  living  as  his  better  qualified  classmate. 
When  he  finds  tliat  all  that  is  open  to  him,  all,  in- 
deed, that  he  is  fitted  for,  is  waiting  table  or  wash- 
ing dishes  or  taking  care  oF  furnaces  at  so  much  an 
hour,  perhaps,  the  glamour  of  earning  bis  way 
through  college  and  graduating  with  money  in  the 
bank  fades  quickly.  ^Money  earned  in  this  way,  and 
this  in  actual  fact  is  the  coininon  way,  counts  up 
slowly  and  is  a  heavy  drain  upon  the  worker's  time. 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  103 

The  first  thing  a  man  should  ask  himself  who  is  con- 
templating self-support  in  college  is  what  special 
thing  he  can  do  that  will  help  him  to  earn  money 
readily. 

I  have  always  advised  the  ordinary  man  without 
money  and  just  out  of  high  school  to  wait  a  while 
before  entering  college.  Two  or  three  years  of  work 
will  give  him  more  maturity  and  so  fit  him  better  to 
withstand  the  heavy  strain  of  doing  two  difficult 
things  at  once,  as  he  will  have  to  do  when  he  carries 
his  college  course  and  earns  his  living  at  the  same 
time,  and  if  he  is  any  way  nearly  as  economical  before 
he  enters  college  as  he  will  need  to  be  afterward,  he 
will  be  able  to  save  a  considerable  sum  of  money  to 
tide  him  over  the  first  few  months  in  college  when  he 
is  getting  his  bearings  and  finding  out  what  he  can 
best  do.  Xo  man  sliould  enter  college  who  has  not 
money  enough  to  take  him  through  the  first  half  year 
without  his  working,  and  it  would  be  better  if  he  had 
made  arrangements  for  an  entire  year.  T  say  this  in 
spite  of  the  fact  tliat  a  good  many  fellows  struggle 
through  the  year  successfully  without  taking  these 
precautions,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  peo- 
ple urge  the  higli  school  graduate  to  go  immediately 
to  college  whether  he  has  money  or  not.  It  is  be- 
cause of  the  great  number  of  men  wlio  fail  utterly  or 
who  have  so  little  time  for  tlieir  studies  that  they 
accomplish  practically  nothing,  that  T  feel  as  T  do. 

The  man  who  has  to  work  his  way  through  college 
should  be  as  well  dressed  as  possible.  He  ought  not 
wherever  he  goes  to  advertise  the  fact  that  he  is  in 
financial  straits.  He  will  not  need  better  clothes 
than  other  fellows,  but  he  will  have  to  ^\\e  them  more 


104  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

careful  and  constant  attention,  because  he  will  often 
have  to  do  work  that  is  dirty  and  because  he  will 
have  more  temptations  to  carelessness  in  dress  than 
many  other  men.  Too  many  college  men  who  are 
self-supporting  divulge  the  fact  to  every  one  tliey 
meet  by  their  generally  woe-begone  and  run-down 
appearance.  The  four  years  which  a  man  spends  in 
college  give  him  pretty  confirmed  habits  of  life,  and 
these  include  certain  habits  of  dress.  If  in  college 
he  wears  sloppy  untidy  clothes,  goes  with  his  shoes 
unbrushed  and  his  trousers  covered  with  grease  spots 
and  bagging  at  the  knees,  it  will  be  hard  for  him  to 
develop  habits  of  neatness  and  care  in  dress  after 
he  leaves  college.  He  should  have  substantial,  neat, 
well-made  clothes  that  do  not  invite  attention  because 
tliey  are  of  the  latest  extreme  cut  or  because  they 
are  completely  out  of  style,  and  he  should  give  them 
regidar  care.  He  must  do  this  because  a  working 
man  subjects  his  clothes  to  harder  service  than  do 
other  men,  and  at  the  same  time  he  must  wear 
them  longer  and  still  have  them  look  well. 

A  good  deal  has  been  said  in  one  place  or  another 
of  the  social  ostracism  of  those  who  are  forced  to  be 
self-supporting  in  college.  In  so  democratic  an  en- 
vironment as  a  state  university  we  are  not  likely  to 
see  much  of  that.  I  have  not  found  in  my  own  ex- 
perience that  it  made  any  difference  to  a  man's  social 
standing  whether  he  worked  or  not.  There  is  not  a 
social  fraternity  at  the  University  of  Illinois  which 
does  not  have  among  its  members  men  who  must  earn 
their  living.  Such  men  are  not  thought  of  less  or 
more,  nor  should  they  be. 

The  man  who  is  working  his  wav  is  entitled  to  as 


*'  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  105 

mucli  respect  and  consideration  as  other  men ;  I  have 
seldom  been  able  to  see  that  he  is  entitled  to  more 
than  are  other  men  who  are  doing  their  college  duties 
well.  Self-support  in  college  is  not  a  matter  either 
for  self-congratulation  or  self-humiliation.  The  man 
who  has  to  work  is  not  the  subject  for  special  sym- 
pathy or  special  favors.  He  ought  not  to  ask  or 
expect  to  be  exempted  from  the  duties  which  fall  to 
all  students;  he  should  not  be  annoyed  if  his  omis- 
sions and  his  irregularities  are  looked  upon  in  the 
same  light  as  are  those  of  other  students.  The  young 
fellow  who  expects  the  college  authorities  to  grant 
him  special  privileges,  who  thinks  himself  entitled 
to  a  larger  number  of  cuts,  or  to  longer  vacations  than 
those  normally  granted  by  the  college  simply  because 
he  works,  is  lacking  a  little.  It  is  the  man  who 
meets  the  conditions  of  life  into  wliich  he  goes  with- 
out complaint  and  without  asking  for  favor  that  has 
tlie  right  stuff  in  him. 

There  is  a  quite  general  feeling  among  those  who 
have  never  given  the  subject  any  serious  thought  or 
study  that  the  man  who  works  liis  way  through  col- 
lege is  more  likely  than  other  men  to  succeed  in  laler 
life.  1  do  not  believe  this,  and  I  sliould  be  very  glad 
to  believe  it  if  tlie  facts  warranted  it.  Men  go  to 
college  for  the  training  of  the  mind.  Tlie  very  fact 
that  the  self-supporting  undergraduate  must  spend 
hours  each  day  in  earning  a  living,  keeps  him  from 
the  very  thing  for  which  he  is  making  his  chief  sac- 
rifice, and  takes  away  from  the  very  preparation 
which  is  fitting  him  for  success  in  after  life.  The 
man  in  college  wlio  meets  the  necessity  for  self-sup- 
port cleverly  and  skillfully,  who  uses  his  brains  to 


106  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

help  feed  him  and  clothe  him,  is  no  doubt  perma- 
nently helped  by  this  effort,  but  the  number  of  self- 
supporting  students  who  really  do  exhibit  skill  and 
finesse  in  their  own  support  is  very  small.  On  the 
whole  I  believe  that  the  future  of  students  is  injured 
rather  than  helped  by  their  undergraduate  labors  for 
a  living,  and  I  should  not  find  it  hard  to  furnish 
many  examples  from  real  life  to  substantiate  this 
statement.  There  are,  of  course,  examples  to  the 
contrary,  but  these  simply  serve  to  prove  the  rule. 

Two  years  ago,  I  sent  out  to  all  of  our  undergrad- 
uates, one-third  of  whom,  perhaps,  do  something  to- 
ward self-support,  a  letter  of  inquiry.  T  wished  to 
get  the  opinion  of  the  men  who  w^ere  working  as  to 
whether  such  work  was  helpful  or  otherwise  to  their 
studies.  Tt  is  true  that  the  perspective  of  the  man 
himself  is  perhaps  a  little  too  close  for  him  adequately 
to  judge,  but  at  least  the  answers  were  interesting. 

To  the  question :  "  Do  you  think  your  studies 
suffered  because  of  outside  work  ? "  thirty-nine  per 
cent,  of  the  students  replied  in  the  affirmative,  and 
sixty-one  per  cent,  replied  in  the  negative.  Fifty 
per  cent,  thought  that  every  student  should  do  at 
least  a  small  amount  of  work.  The  reason  given  in 
nearly  every  case  by  the  working  students  was  the 
conventional  assertion  that  the  holding  of  a  job 
teaclies  a  man  the  vahie  of  a  dollar.  Other  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  working  were  tliat  outside  work 
compels  concentration  and  study,  teaclies  economy, 
regularity,  self-control,  self-reliance,  and  conserva- 
tion of  time.  Tliey  said  that  the  worker  gains  an 
acquaintance  with  the  ways  of  man  and  the  ways  of 
the  world.     He  avoids  loafinor  and  uses  to  advantage 


"  AND  SOME  MUST  WORK  "  107 

those  hours  which  would  otherwise  be  spent  in  idle- 
ness. A  good  job  keeps  a  man  from  acquiring  bad 
habits  and  inspires  in  him  respect  for  democracy. 

Those  who  took  the  opposite  view  alleged  that  col- 
lege is  no  place  for  earning  a  living.  There  is  no 
time  for  the  broader  things  of  education  if  a  man 
must  earn  his  way,  whetlier  wholly  or  in  part.  The 
opinion  of  many  of  these  fellows  who  have  earned 
their  living  and  who  do  not  look  with  favor  upon 
the  practice,  is  that  outside  work  deprives  the  student 
of  the  opportunity  to  engage  in  athletics,  social  and 
other  college  activities,  and  so  keeps  him  from  one  of 
the  most  valuable  experiences  in  college  life.  It 
often  makes  him  conceited,  over  self-reliant  and  too 
mucb  in  love  with  his  own  accomplishments.  He  is 
likely  to  undervalue  real  culture  because  he  has  had 
no  time  to  give  either  to  understanding  what  it 
means  or  to  ac(iuiring  it.  The  fact  that  students 
work  out'^ide  results  very  often  in  the  college  grad- 
uate's being  a  craftsman  rather  than  a  broadly  edu- 
cated man.  Most  of  the  work  done  by  students  in 
college  in  their  attempts  to  earn  tiieir  living  is  not 
helpful  to  them  later  in  the  professions  which  they 
fill.  It  is  injurious  to  their  life  work  and  detracts 
from  their  efficiency.  The  good  which  a  man  may 
normally  expect  to  get  out  of  four  years  of  college  is 
thus  very  much  lessened.  As  one  man  says :  "  A  fel- 
low who  lias  earned  his  living  lias  most  of  the  joy 
and  all  of  the  culture  taken  out  of  his  college  life." 

My  own  observation  of  the  men   who  work  their 
way  througli  college  is  that  too  many  wlio  are  un- 
qualified attempt  the  task.     Many  a  boy  pays  too  high  ^. 
a  price  for  the  education  he  receives.     Men  do  not    ♦ 


108  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

always  realize  what  they  are  missing  or  how  mucTi 
their  studies  are  suffering  from  their  outside  work. 
As  I  see  it  through  the  experience  of  thirty  years 
of  pretty  active  contact  with  the  man  who  works 
his  way,  the  fellow  who  can  get  an  education  in  no 
other  way  should  accept  the  situation  bravely  and 
not  whine ;  he  should  neither  be  proud  of  it  nor 
ashamed  of  it.  The  fellow  who  works  his  way  when 
he  need  not  do  so  or  wlio  simply  wishes  to  show  his 
independence,  is  foolish  and  not  using  his  time  to  the 
best  advantage ;  and  the  father  wlio  forces  his  son  to 
earn  his  way  when  he  could  just  as  well  furnish  him 
the  money,  himself  needs  educating. 


THE  POLITICIAN 

I  HAD  not  been  long  in  college  before  I  learned 
that  political  parties  and  political  organizations,  and, 
politicians  are  quite  as  evident  among  college  under- 
graduates, and  are  considered  quite  as  necessary  as 
they    are    among    the    voters    of    a    commonwealth. 
There  were  few  students  in  attendance  when  I  en- 
tered college,  but  it  took  me  only  a  few  weeks  to  see 
that  political  lines  were  as  closely  drawn  in  that  little 
community  as  in  state  or  national  affairs,  and  that  if 
I  desired  political,  and  to  some  extent  social,  ad- 
vancement I  must  ally  myself  with  one  side  or  the 
other.     The  literary  societies  were  the  dominant  po- 
litical parties  at  this  time,  and  the  one  that  I  joined 
was  in  control  of  the  political  power  of  the  institu- 
tion.    I  should  not  have  admitted  the  fact  at  that 
time,  but  in  all  probability  its  political  prestige  was 
one  of  the  deciding  factors  in  determining  my  choice, 
for   I  had  myself  more  than   a  passing  interest  in 
politics.     My  political  future  was  tlierefore  assured. 
No  one  got  a  place  on  tlie  college  newspaper  or  the 
class  annual  or  on  class  committees  unless  he  had  a 
stand-in  with  the  political  party,  alias  the  literaiy 
society  that  was  in  power.     It  was  scarcely  ever  a 
case  of  fitness  for  tlie  office,  although  within  limits 
fitness  may  liave  been  considered  —  it  wa^  rather  a 
case  of  wbo  your  friends  were  and  how  well  tliey  were 
organized.     Chaiilie  (iibsoji  was  no  doubt  very  much 
better  fitted  to  be  editjjr  of  the  college  paper,  than 
lot) 


110  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

was  Lin  Wilbur,  but  Charlie  had  few  supporters  and 
fewer  admirers  of  his  talents,  and  he  belonged  to  the 
wrong  political  party,  so  that  settled  his  case.  I  re- 
member that  Lin  told  me  with  some  chagrin  that 
wben  he  was  approached  by  his  friends  who  asked 
him  to  become  a  candidate,  the  spokesman  of  the 
party  said,  "  It  isn't  because  you  are  the  best  man, 
I^in,  that  we  are  asking  you  to  run,  but  because  you 
can  be  elected."  The  organization  was  simple,  but 
it  was  effective ;  we  were  able  to  predict  two  or  three 
years  ahead  who  would  hold  the  important  offices, 
and  we  scarcely  ever  missed  it,  nor  do  the  politicians 
of  to-day. 

I  was  talking  not  long  ago  with  one  of  the  old 
timers  who  was  deploring  the  fact  tliat  things  have 
changed  so  completely  since  he  was  in  college,  and, 
from  his  point  of  view,  changed  for  the  worse.  The 
fraternities,  he  said,  liad  come  in  and  had  under- 
mined the  influence  and  work  of  the  literary  societies 
which,  he  averred,  had  done  so  much  to  train  men 
to  think  and  to  speak  effectively.  1  pointed  out  to 
Xhim  that  the  former  supposed  province  of  the  literary 
societies  had  been  usurped  by  the  Englisli  (lc'|jart- 
ment  and  that  in  reality  the  literary  societies  in  his 
time  and  in  mine  were  the  most  carefully  organized 
political  macliines  extant;  that  they  would  have  made 
a  present-day  democratic  central  committee  ashamed 
of  its  crude  work,  and  further  that  the  fraternities 
were  simply  playing  in  an  amateurish  and  weak  way 
the  ])olitical  game  that  the  literary  societies  had 
taught  them.  I  cited  a  few  things  to  him  that  had 
occurred  while  he  was  in  college,  and  after  he  had 
thought  these  over  a  short  time,  lie  decided  that  per- 


THE  POLITICIAN  111 

haps  things  were  not  so  bad  now  as  he  had  supposed, 
and  that  the  political  game  is  as  old  as  time.  It  was 
worked  as  skillfully  when  Jacob  organized  the  home 
forces  and  "  rimmed  "  Esau  out  of  his  birthright  as 
it  is  to-day. 

Politics  in  college  are  not  run  very  differently  from 
city  politics,  or  state  politics.  As  the  college  in- 
creases in  size  the  organization  must  become  more 
complex,  the  difficulties  of  control  grow  greater,  and 
more  genius  in  leadership  is  required.  A  friend  of 
mine  who,  during  his  senior  year,  had  been  elected 
to  the  position  of  president  of  the  athletic  associa- 
tion of  one  of  the  large  Middle  West  state  universi- 
ties said  to  me  that  the  planning  and  organization  of 
his  campaign  for  this  office  required  more  thought 
and  work  than  was  later  necessary  to  get  him  elected 
to  the  state  legislature  from  his  home  district,  on 
the  Republican  ticket,  in  a  Democratic  community. 

If  one  desires  to  be  elected  to  any  general  office 
in  a  large  university  he  must  make  his  plans  early. 
1  am  more  and  more  astonished  when  I  am  brought 
to  appreciate  how  early  they  must  he  made.  I  have 
no  doubt,  for  instance,  that  at  this  moment  the  po- 
litical forces  in  the  sophomore  class  of  the  University 
of  Illinois  arc  fully  organized,  and  that  the  plans 
are  all  made,  the  candidates  all  chosen,  and  many  of 
the  appointments  to  committees  decided  upon  for  the 
management  of  the  class  when  they  shall  have  reached 
senior  standing.  The  unexpected  events  which,  al- 
ways occur  even  in  tlie  best  of  family  and  political 
organizations  will  necessitate  numerous  clumges  in 
these  plans,  no  doubt,  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  such 
plans  are  already  formed. 


112  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

So  far  as  my  information  and  experience  goes, 
every  institution,  large  or  small,  has  its  politicians 
who  control,  in  a  more  or  less  complete  way,  under- 
graduate affairs  and  undergraduate  offices.  Some- 
times tliey  do  it  well ;  sometimes  very  much  to  the 
contrary.  If  the  authorities  of  any  college  think  this 
is  not  true  in  the  institution  with  which  they  are  con- 
nected, I  am  convinced  that  they  liave  not  prohed 
under  the  surface  of  undergraduate  activities.  To 
hold  the  strings  that  may  be  pulled,  to  shuffle  tiie 
cards  in  order  that  one  may  get  a  good  hand,  to 
try  to  get  into  a  position  of  control  or  of  preferment 
is  as  natural  and  as  human  in  college,  and  out  for 
some  people,  as  to  look  out  for  three  meals  a  day. 

In  college,  as  out  of  it,  the  successful  politician 
is  always  a  part  of  a  well-knit  organization.  This 
organization  may  he  an  open  and  a  recognized  one 
acting  under  a  given  name  and  with  college  author- 
ity, or  it  may  be  an  unauthorized  and  informal  one, 
unknown  to  the  general  community.  It  may  be  tlie 
literary  societies,  it  may  be  the  fraternities,  or  it  may 
be  some  democratic  organization  wliose  ostensible 
purpose  is  to  oppose  organizations  in  general,  but  no 
man  ever  got  very  far  politically  or  in  a  business 
way  witiiout  building  up  around  him  some  sort  of 
machine.  The  secret  organizations  about  most  col- 
leges whose  membership  is  discreetly  kept  under  the 
rose,  are  for  the  most  part  political,  though  tlieir 
adherents  claim  strenuously  that  politics  never  enter 
into  their  deliberations.  One  of  the  most  carefully 
organized  political  machines  in  the  institution  of 
which  I  am  a  member  has  regularly  held  that  ])olit- 
ical  machinations  are  unknown  within  its  member- 


THE  POLITICIAN  113 

ship,  yet  it  manages  every  year  to  name  most  of  the 
successful  candidates  for  office  and  to  control  most  of 
the  undergraduate  affairs  which  have  connected  with 
them  either  profit  or  honor.  The  only  explanation 
of  why  members  of  Greek  letter  fraternities,  in  most 
of  the  colleges  in  which  they  exist,  hold  much  more 
than  their  proportionate  share  of  class  offices  and 
political  jobs  in  general  is  because  these  men  are  or- 
ganized, and  so  have  little  trouble  in  getting  their 
men  by.  The  man  in  an  organization  comes  to  ex- 
pect appointment  or  election  merely  because  he  be- 
longs to  an  organization,  and  the  public  very  often 
comes,  also,  to  expect  the  same  thing. 

I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  explain,  except- 
ing by  implication,  what  I  mean  by  politician  and 
politics.  What  I  do  mean  by  politician  as  related 
to  college  is  the  man  who  through  diplomacy  and 
finesse  and  conscious  planning  and  organization  gets 
control  of  undergraduate  affairs,  decides  who  shall 
run  for  class  president,  who  shall  be  editor  of  the  col- 
lege daily,  who  shall  be  chairman  of  the  Junior 
Prom  committee,  and  who  shall  run  whatever  in  stu- 
dent affairs  needs  running  —  in  short  the  man  who 
in  the  college  community  is  the  power  behind  the 
throne.  The  mayor  of  a  city  is  not  necessarily  the 
most  influential  man  in  the  conduct  of  municipal 
affairs;  in  many  cases  he  is  merely  a  figurehead  who 
was  chosen  by  the  real  politicians  of  the  community 
to  be  a  foil  for  their  schemes  and  plans.  So,  too, 
in  college.  The  recent  president  of  one  of  our  soph- 
omore classes  was  in  no  sense  prominent  or  influen- 
tial. Ho  was  picked  for  the  place  by  the  real  leaders 
who  got  him  elected  and  who  told  him  what  to  do. 


114  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

and  who  selected  his  committees  for  him  and  planned 
the  class  functions  without  reference  to  his  views  or 
his  cx)mfort  or  pleasure.  It  would  not  be  unlikely 
that  they  even  told  him  what  young  woman  he  was 
to  take  to  the  Cotillion.  He  was  in  no  sense  a  poli- 
tician; he  was  simply  a  tool  who  was  managed  by 
politicians,  who  are  the  real  bosses  of  every  com- 
munity. 

The  politician  in  college  is  a  man  upon  whom 
there  are  many  responsibilities  if  he  will  assume 
fthem.  He  is  restricted,  it  is  true,  in  his  movements 
and  in  his  opportunities  for  exploitation,  by  conven- 
tions, by  college  traditions,  and  by  precedent,  but 
even  these  if  he  is  bold  and  aggressive  he  may  often 
over-ride.  Through  long  years  of  practice  there 
liave  come  to  be  somewhat  rigidly  established  in  every 
college,  even  though  there  are  no  fixed  rules  in  print, 
customs,  and  expense  rates,  and  recognized  methods 
of  procedure  which  one  finds  it  difficult  to  deviate 
from.  But  even  circumscribed  by  these  the  man  in 
general  control  of  undergraduate  affairs  has  things 
pretty  much  his  own  way  in  the  direction  and  man- 
agement of  the  social  life  of  the  college,  the  general 
activities  of  classes,  the  policies  and  control  of  publi- 
cations, dramatics,  and  all  tlie  other  activities  with 
which  students  are  concerned.  Sometimes  he  keeps 
his  hands  out  of  athletics,  but  the  illustration  is  not 
far  to  seek  where  even  in  the  determination  of  atli- 
letic  affairs  the  politician  has  not  been  averse  to  de- 
termining wliat  should  be  done,  and  who  should  be 
selected  to  do  it.  The  larger  tlie  institution  the 
more  likely  he  is  to  attempt  universal  control  of  af- 
fairs. 


THE  POLITICIAN  115 

All  this  is  not  so  simple  nor  so  innocent  as  it  might 
at  first  seem.  In  an  institution  that  numbers  its 
students  by  the  thousands  any  man  in  prominence  in 
undergraduate  activities  is  responsible  directly  or  in- 
directly for  the  expenditure  of  considerable  sums  of 
money.  In  any  one  of  a  score  of  our  prominent  in- 
stitutions, for  instance,  the  chairman  of  the  commit- 
tee in  charge  of  any  large  dance,  conservatively  speak- 
ing, has  control  of  the  expenditure  of  at  least  a  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  chairman  of  the  senior  invitation 
committee  last  year  at  the  University  of  Illinois  ex- 
pended two  or  three  thousand  dollars.  The  manager 
of  a  modern  college  daily  may  easily  have  pass 
through  his  hands  during  one  year  eight  or  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  in  most  cases  these  officers  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  class  president  or  elected  by  under- 
graduate vote.  Often,  then,  appointments  come 
purely  as  rewards  for  political  loyalty,  for  standing 
by  the  candidate  for  office.  More  often  than  other- 
wise such  positions  are  plums  thrown  down  to  the 
friends  below  who  have  given  the  aspirant  for  office 
a  leg  up  the  political  tree.  The  amount  of  money 
which  in  these  days  is  directly  under  the  control  of 
the  college  politician  is  rather  startling  when  we  come 
to  sum  up  the  total.  Its  control,  it  is  true,  is  not 
infrequently  reasonably  well  safe-guarded  by  college 
rules  and  college  supervision,  but  even  the  most  care- 
ful supervision  has  its  loopholes  which  the  shrewd 
undergraduate  is  not  slow  to  discover,  and  not  always 
averse  to  slipping  through. 

It  is  the  man  in  control  of  undergraduate  affairs, 
too,  who  ultimately  makes  customs,  who  establishes 
traditions,  who  determines  ideals,  good  or  bad,  for 


116  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

those  with  whom  he  works,  or  for  those  who  come 
after  him.  I  had  a  talk  only  a  few  weeks  ago  with 
the  chairman  of  one  of  our  underclass  committees. 
The  committee,  which  was  a  pretty  large  one  with 
duties  which  were  quite  trifling  (to  select  caps  for 
the  sophomore  class),  had  been  apjx)inted  in  the  early 
spring.  Because  of  unusual  conditions,  it  had  not 
had  a  meeting,  had  done  no  business,  and  was  not 
likely  to  do  any.  The  toi)ic  of  discussion  between 
us  was  a  rather  extravagant  bill  for  stationery  for 
the  use  of  this  committee.  The  argument  of  the 
committee  chairman  in  brief  was  that  though  no 
business  had  l)een  transacted  and  though  none  would 
be  transacted  by  the  committee,  the  members  were 
entitled  to  such  trifling  spoils  as  stationery,  because 
by  merely  representing  the  class  in  an  official  way 
they  had  earned  something,  and  because  stationery 
had  from  time  immemorial  been  a  perquisite  of  class 
committees.  He  was  not  concerned  with  the  fact 
that  some  one  would  liave  to  j)ay  for  it  or  that  his 
committee  liad  rendered  no  real  service.  It  had  ren- 
dered a  worthy  service,  he  held,  l)y  allowing  itself  to 
be  appointed,  I  do  not  know  whether  or  not  he  was 
a  member  of  that  distinguished  political  j)arty  which 
was  first  responsible  for  the  doctrine,  but  he  was  quite 
convinced  of  the  justice  embodied  in  the  statement 
"  'J\)  the  victors  belong  the  sj)oils.'' 

In  any  comnuinity,  civil  or  collegiate,  there  are  not 
mrany  politicians.  .Most  p('0])le  are  indifferent  to 
these  things. —  they  are  not  interest^^d  in  them.  I 
am  surprised  and  annoyed  over  and  over  again  to 
find  how  indifferent  they  are.  Ninety  per  cent, 
of  the  college  community  are  indifferent  as  to  who 


THE  POLITICIAN  117 

has  charge  of  undergraduate  affairs.  One  candidate, 
to  most  men,  looks  as  good  as  another.  It  takes  the 
thunders  and  the  eruptions  of  a  political  campaign 
to  stir  up  the  layman,  and  often  even  these  have  little 
effect  on  him.  "  I  don't  care  vi'ho  is  elected,  just  so 
they  let  me  alone,"  is  the  common  cry  in  college  and 
out  of  it.  Most  people  are  glad  to  have  the  other 
fellow  run  things,  provided  they  are  themselves  not 
disturbed  or  called  upon  to  help  in  the  running  — 
otherwise  the  politician  would  have  a  more  difficult 
time  than  he  now  does.  Few,  also,  are  willing  to  give 
the  time  that  it  takes  to  be  a  successful  politician, 
for  the  majority  of  undergraduate  students  are  con- 
scientious and  give  their  main  time  and  thought  to 
their  studies,  the  general  opinion  to  the  contrary  nort- 
withst-anding.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  it  takes 
an  unconscionable  amount  of  time  to  manage  polit- 
ical matters.  Those  who  go  into  our  national  polit- 
ical life  usually  find  that  they  have  no  time  left  for 
any  other  business,  and  so  the  college  man  finds  —  if 
he  is  a  successful  politician — ajid  his  term  grades 
usually  suffer.  His  scholastic  salvation  is  found  only 
in  the  fact  that  few  undergraduates  begin  their  po- 
litical career  until  after  they  have  learned  how  to 
manage  their  studies,  so  that  after  they  go  in  for  pol- 
itics tiiey  carry  their  work  on  their  former  reputation. 
In  these  matters,  again,  the  college  politician  differs 
little  from  his  more  experienced  brother  out  in  the 
world. 

Speaking  of  the  time  it  requires  for  a  man  with 
political  aspirations  to  accomplish  his  purposes, 
brings  to  my  mind  the  case  of  a  student  who  at  the 
beginning  of  his  junior  year  conceived  the  idea  of 


118  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

securing  the  position  of  editor  of  the  college  daily  in 
hi>!  senior  year.  The  office  was  a  profitable  and  a 
prominent  one;  it  carried  with  it  a  remuneration 
sufficient  adequately  to  meet  all  his  expenses  during 
his  last  year  in  college,  and  it  made  him  almost  cer- 
tain of  election  to  the  senior  society  —  an  honor 
which  most  college  students  rate  very  highly.  The 
office  at  that  time  was  obtained  through  a  general 
vote  of  the  student  body,  and  the  election  came  late 
in  May.  From  the  opening  of  college  in  the  fall 
this  ambitious  politician  jmrsucd  his  strenuous  polit- 
ical campaign.  Every  day  of  the  week  excepting 
Sunday  —  he  devoted  several  hours  to  making  ac- 
quaintances, and  building  his  political  fences.  He 
visited  students'  rooms,  he  met  students  on  the  street, 
he  buttonholed  them  on  the  campus.  Before  the 
end  of  spring  he  had  built  a  political  fortress  that 
was  impregnable,  and  he  had  personally  seen  in  his 
own  interests  every  one  of  the  thousands  of  voters  on 
the  campus.  Then  when  the  election  was  on  and 
he  was  just  about  ready  to  begin  to  pass  out  the  party 
rewards,  he  found  that  his  studies  were  in  such  con- 
dition that  he  was  not  eligible  for  election.  He  had, 
however,  accumulated  a  considerable  amount  of  ex- 
perience, political  and  otherwise,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
could  hardly  consider  the  time  wholly  wasted,  even 
if  he  did  lose  the  election  ;  but  few  students  would  be 
willing  to  give  so  much  time  or  could  afford  to  give 
it,  for  the  sake  of  winning  any  college  office,  and  no 
college  office  with  which  I  am  familiar  is  worth  the 
sacrifice  of  time  which  he  made. 

One  of  the  regrettable  things  about  college  politics 
is  that  real  merit  so  often  counts  for  little.     Fitness 


THE  POLITICIAN  119 

for  the  office  is  too  often  little  considered  if  consid- 
ered at  all.  Popularity,  prominence,  availability, 
and,  more  than  all  of  these,  frequently,  manageability 
are  the  qualities  which  bring  a  man  success  in  the 
political  game  in  college.  The  most  popular  man  in 
college  is  the  successful  athlete.  Youth,  both  fem- 
inine and  masculine,  will  continue  to  admire  physical 
beauty  and  physical  accomplishments  no  matter  how 
vigorously  we  who  are  older  and  more  experienced 
may  eulogize  intellectual  power.  The  military  con- 
flict through  which  we  have  passed  will  not  tend 
to  dim  the  glory  of  the  hero  in  physical  combat,  and 
will  intensify  this  sort  of  hero  worship  in  the  minds 
of  college  youths  generally. 

Though  the  athlete  in  college,  if  he  does  not  neg- 
lect his  athletic  business,  is  the  worst  possible  candi- 
date for  official  position  or  political  activity  because, 
on  account  of  the  exactions  of  his  sport,  he  has  no 
time  to  give  to  such  things,  yet,  since  he  is  so  con- 
stantly and  so  favorably  in  the  public  eye,  he  can  with 
less  personal  effort  be  elected  to  office,  and  so  is  fre- 
quently tempted  through  ambition  and  vanity  to 
make  the  race.  It  is  a  safe  conclusion,  however,  that 
the  athlete  in  office,  whether  the  position  be  chairman 
of  the  hat  committee  or  president  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  is  there  primarily  for  adver- 
tising purposes,  and  will  do  little  work  and  do  the 
office  little  credit.  The  fact  that  he  is  entitled  to  it, 
as  he  so  frequently  claims,  seldom  gives  him  the  feel- 
ing that  he  is  also  under  the  most  serious  obligations 
to  fulfill  the  duties  of  the  office  which  he  has  assumed. 

Prominence  of  any  sort  is  almost  equally  sure  to 
help  a  man   in  college  towanl  political  success.     If 


120  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

an  imdergraduate  has  attained  success  in  any  line 
of  endeavor,  excepting  in  intellectual  lines  which  no- 
where, in  the  world,  so  far  as  I  know,  gives  a  man  any 
political  prestige,  he  is  at  once  tliought  of  as  fit  to  be 
at  the  head  of  one  undergraduate  activity  or  another. 
The  debater  in  some  localities  has  vogue,  the  society 
man  can  not  be  wholly  overlooked,  and  the  "  good 
fellow,"  whatever  that  may  mean,  is  almost  next  in 
prominence  to  the  athlete. 

The  man  who  can  play  both  ends  against  the  mid- 
dle is  a  likely  candidate.  If  one  is  popular  with  his 
own  party  and  does  not  arouse  antagonism  in  the 
other,  he  is  often  thought  the  most  available  candi- 
date because  he  is  most  likely  of  election  without  a 
liard  fight,  and  no  politician  likes  a  hard  fight  if  vic- 
tory may  be  gained  easily.  The  ease  with  which  a 
man  may  be  managed  is  often  an  important  factor  in 
his  selection  as  a  candidate  for  office. 

Very  often  an  innocent,  plialile,  harmless  person  is 
selected  because  nothing  particular  can  be  said 
against  him,  and  lie  has  so  little  independence  that 
when  he  is  inducted  into  office  the  real  politicians 
will  have  no  difficulty  in  inducing  him  to  back  their 
schemes.  There  is  in  reality,  it  may  be  said,  a  con- 
siderable political  advantage  in  this  sort  of  candi- 
date at  times,  for  he  has  attracted  so  little  attention 
from  the  authorities  beforehand  that  through  his  in- 
strumentality many  things  can  be  done  quietly  which 
would  be  suspected  and  detected  in  a  better  known 
and  a  more  independent  man.  Tlie  worst  political 
gang  I  ever  knew  in  college  always  were  able  to  point 
with  virtuous  pride  to  their  candidates  in  whose  per- 
sonal record  it  was  seldom  possible  to  find  a  flaw.     It 


THE  POLITICIAN  121 

is  not  enough  to  know  who  is  running?  for  office  or 
who  is  holding  office,  but  rather  who  is  behind  him, 
who  is  managing  him,  if  one  expects  to  control  the 
situation. 

There  is  a  growing  feeling  among  college  poli- 
ticians, I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  whatever  activity  an 
undergraduate  engages  in  he  is  entitled  to  some  tan- 
gible return.  In  my  own  undergraduate  days  elec- 
tion to  office  or  appointment  to  membership  on  a 
committee  was  in  itself  considered  an  honor  and  a 
distinction  which  more  than  compensated  for  the 
work  or  effort  necessary  in  the  performance  of  the 
duty  assigned.  Now  everything  is  different.  The 
candidate's  first  question  is,  "^Vliat  is  there  in  it?" 
Xow  the  man  who  considers  whether  or  not  he  will 
become  a  candidate  for  office  or  accept  a  position  on  a 
committee  is  quite  likely  to  view  the  whole  proceed- 
ing from  the  standpoint  of  personal  profit.  Some- 
times this  profit  is  expected  to  be  in  hard  cash ;  at 
other  times  it  takes  the  form  of  passes,  of  tickets  to 
entertainments,  of  free  stationery,  or  free  cabs,  or 
free  stamps.  Many  office-holders  do  not  get  their 
fingers  far  into  the  bag,  but  they  are  not  satisfied  to 
play  the  political  game  and  hold  office  for  the  mere 
sport  of  playing;  there  must  be  a  small  stake  at  least. 
Even  the  man  who  helps  a  fellow  student  to  election 
by  voting  for  liim  expects  something.  Last  year  I 
was  speaking  to  one  of  our  class  presidents  who  ran 
unopposed  for  the  office.  It  seemed  to  me  that  he 
was  making  his  class  committees  (all  of  whom  would 
receive  some  gratuities  for  their  services  or  supposed 
services)  too  large  for  any  reason. 

"  Why  do  you  do  it  ?  "  I  asked. 


122  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

"  They  all  helped  me  pretty  faithfully  in  my  elec- 
tion campaign,"  he  replied. 

"  You  didn't  need  help,"  I  protested ;  "  you  would 
have  been  elected  no  matter  if  they  had  not  worked, 
for  there  was  no  rival  candidate." 

"  But  there  would  have  been,"  he  said,  flushing, 
"  if  T  had  not  given  them  to  understand  that,  if 
elected,  T  would  take  care  of  them  satisfactorily." 

It  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  the  college  politician 
would  seldom  be  moved  in  his  selection  of  a  cabinet 
of  helpers  and  advisers  by  any  appeal  as  to  their  fit- 
ness and  experience.  He  does  not  pay  much  atten- 
tion to  his  rivals,  no  matter  what  their  claims  to 
merit  may  be,  when  it  comes  to  the  partitioning  out 
of  offices  or  committee  jobs.  Any  one  who  is  fa- 
miliar with  the  political  complexion  of  a  college 
community  could  pick  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  ap- 
pointees to  office  if  he  were  told  wlio  tiie  appointing 
officer  is. 

"  I  want  to  appoint  the  best  man  in  college  to  be 
chairman  of  the  invitation  committee,"  an  upper 
class  president  said  to  me  not  long  ago. 

"  The  most  reliable  man  you  could  choose  is 
Briggs,  whom  you  defeated  in  tiie  election,"  I  sug- 
gested. 

"  What  would  my  friends  think  of  me  if  I  ap- 
pointed him?"  he  asked. 

"  They'd  tliink  you  had  independence  and  nerve, 
and  you  ouglit  to  he  able  to  stand  that,"  I  replied. 
But  lie  liad  neither. 

The  most  comforting  part  of  all  my  years  of  ex- 
perience and  acquaintance  with  college  politicians  is 
the  fact  that  every  year  I  find  the  man  who  has  inde- 


THE  POLITICIAN  123 

pendence,  who  is  not  willing  to  be  managed,  who 
does  not  approve  of  political  chicanery,  and  who 
disappoints  and  surprises  the  friend  who  expected 
to  profit  from  his  election. 

Not  long  ago  a  young  junior  came  to  me  to  get 
my  opinion  as  to  his  fitness  for  the  position  of  presi- 
dent of  one  of  our  important  student  organizations. 

"  You'd  be  a  poor  man  for  the  place,"  I  said  to  him 
frankly.  "  You  are  not  aggressive,  you  are  not  in- 
dependent, and  the  men  behind  you  are  lacking  in 
the  right  political  principles." 

"I  think  I'll  surprise  you,"  he  said,  and  he  did. 
He  succeeded  in  the  election,  and  before  he  gradu- 
ated I  wrote  him  that  I  considered  him  the  best  of- 
ficer his  organization  had  ever  had.  He  was  punc- 
tilious in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  his  office, 
and  these  were  not  few.  He  would  not  be  managed, 
he  would  not  tolerate  irregularity  or  dishonesty,  and 
when  ]iis  friends  shirked  the  obligations  of  the  posi- 
tions to  which  he  had  appointed  them,  they  were  sup- 
planted by  other  men  who  were  willing  to  do  the 
work  well.  He  was  quiet,  apparently  unaggressive, 
but  firm,  shrewd,  and  honest.  I  never  knew  whether 
or  not  my  adverse  criticism  stimulated  him  to  do  his 
best,  but  I  do  know  that  I  wish  every  college  had 
more  undergraduate  officials  like  him. 

Another  similar  illustration  occurs  to  me.  The 
man  in  question  was  chosen  to  run  for  president  of 
the  senior  class  because  it  was  taken  for  granted  that 
lie  would  handle  affairs  to  the  financial  advantage  of 
liis  fi'ionds.  He  allowed  himself  to  be  supported  in 
his  political  campaign  by  the  most  untrustworthy 
politicians   on   the   campus.     After   his.   flection   he 


124  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

called  his  appointees  together  and  very  frankly  told 
them  that  lie  recognized  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
elected  because  a  number  of  people  who  had  supported 
him  expected  to  profit  by  his  supposed  crookedness. 
He  was  sorry  so  completely  to  disappoint  his  friends 
who  had  trusted  him,  he  said,  but  he  had  determined 
when  selected  to  run  for  office  to  stand  for  no  graft 
and  no  dishonesty.  He  would  expose  any  one  whom 
he  caught  engaged  in  any  shady  action.  If  he  had 
appointed  any  one  who  did  not  care  to  work  under 
these  circumstances  that  person  might  resign.  There 
were  no  resignations,  and  there  was  an  absolutely 
clean  administration.  The  chairman  of  the  invita- 
tion committee  told  me  afterward  tliat  a  representa- 
tive of  an  eastern  engraving  company  offered  him  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in  cash  if  the  chairman 
would  place  tlie  order  for  the  invitation  with  his  com- 
pany. "  I  knew  that  the  president  would  not  stand 
for  it,"  he  said,  "  even  if  I  had  been  willing  to  do  so, 
and  I  turned  him  down  and  placed  the  order  with 
another  company." 

The  party  fealty  of  specific  organizations  about  a 
campus  is  usually  unbelievably  strong.  For  twenty 
years  or  more  the  same  organizations  with  us  have 
been  ranged  against  each  other  on  every  political 
issue  that  has  come  up.  Wc  have  always  been  mor- 
ally certain  that  if  tlie  Phi  Delts  voted  for  a  candi- 
date the  Plii  Gams  would  be  to  a  man  against  him. 
Organization  members  have  seldom  voted  as  individ- 
uals ;  tliey  have  voted  tis  the  organization  determined, 
and  the  organization  usually  determined  to  stand 
with  the  party  whose  cause  they  had  regularly  es- 
poused.    The  chief  argument  that  1  have  ever  heard 


THE  POLITICIAN  125 

for  the  establishment  and  continuance  of  inter-fra- 
ternity organizations  is  that  such  affiliations  bring 
men  of  various  fraternities  together,  that  they  widen 
acquaintanceships,  undermine  prejudices,  and  break 
down  party  lines.  I  think  it  does  widen  a  man's 
acquaintances  for  him  to  belong  to  such  an  organiza- 
tion or  organizations,  but  as  for  affecting  his  preju- 
dices or  in  any  way  influencing  his  party  affiliations, 
I  think  the  inter-fraternity  orgajiization  with  us  has 
not  had  the  slightest  influence,  i^o  matter  how 
many  friends  a  man  may  have  made  through  these 
outside  relationships,  when  it  comes  to  voting  he 
stays  with  his  old  party.  I  liave  known  one  or  two 
men  who  refused  to  vote  for  a  fraternity  or  party 
brother  who  was  running  for  office,  but  such  instances 
are  so  rare  as  to  make  tlie  individual  guilty  of  such 
independent  thinking  seem  almost  freakish. 

The  great  body  of  undergraduates  and  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  faculty  have  given  little  thought  to  the 
power  and  influence  of  the  political  leader  in  col- 
lege even  if  they  have  gone  so  far  as  to  recognize  his 
existence.  He,  far  more  than  tlie  teacher  of  ethics, 
is  responsible  for  the  moral  and  intellectual  ideals  of 
undergraduates.  He  has  an  immeasurable  influence 
over  the  undergraduate  attitude  toward  graft,  to- 
ward integrity  in  business,  toward  virtue  and  clean- 
ness of  life,  and  he  is  on  a  level  with  his  student  com- 
panion and  talks  to  iiim  directly  and  in  a  language 
which  he  can  understand.  I  have  seen  the  spirit  of 
the  whole  undergraduate  body  disturbed  and  changed 
through  the  influence  of  one  man ;  1  have  seen  vicious 
undergraduate  customs  set  aside  and  almost  com- 
pletely wiped  out  in  the  same  way. 


126  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

A  few  years  ago  the  University  was  torn  from  one 
end  to  the  other  by  the  practice  of  hazing.  Nothing 
else  did  the  institution  so  much  damage,  for  it  an- 
gered the  supporters  of  the  institution  and  bade  fair 
to  undermine  and  divert  their  interest.  The  legisla- 
ture was  not  willing  to  give  its  support  to  an  institu- 
tion in  which  such  a  practice  prevailed.  Tlie  chief 
stimulus  to  hazing  was  the  posting  by  members  of 
the  sophomore  class,  followed  by  a  similar  action  by 
members  of  the  freshman  class,  of  certain  inflamma- 
tory proclamations  which  stirred  the  members  of  the 
two  under  classes  and  brought  them  into  personal 
contact  witli  each  other.  This  distributing  of  the 
proclamations  was  done  very  quickly  and  very  secretly 
at  night,  without  announcement,  so  that  it  proved  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  catch  the  perpetrators.  I  used 
always  to  have  a  sort  of  premonition  as  to  when  the 
fray  would  begin,  but  there  was  nothing  certain. 

It  occurred  to  me  one  fall  that  T  would  get  at  the 
leaders.  The  president  of  the  sophomore  class  was 
a  shrewd  fellow  not  likely  himself  to  get  into  trouble, 
and  quite  sure  to  direct  his  forces  in  any  combat  from 
a  safe  vantage  ground.  T  called  liim  in  and  ex- 
plained to  him  the  wliole  situation,  and  the  effect 
which  hazing  was  having  upon  the  growth  and  prog- 
ress of  the  University. 

"  I  haven't  done  any  hazing,  and  I  will  give  you 
my  word  that  I  will  not  personally  put  out  any  proc- 
lamations," he  said  (juietly. 

"  1  believe  you,"  I  answered,  "  but  you  know  very 
fully  who  has  done  tlie  hazing,  and  you  know  equally 
well  when  and  by  whom  the  proclamations  are  to  be 


THE  POLITICIAN  127 

posted.  You  can  control  both;  you  are  the  recog- 
nized leader  of  the  sophomore  class.  You  must  exer- 
cise your  control.  If  the  proclamations  go  up  this 
year,  and  if  the  ha^iing  continues  I'll  hold  you  re- 
sponsible." He  said  nothing  more,  nor  did  I.  The 
proclamations  were  not  posted,  and  the  hazing  ceased, 
and  in  fact  it  was  scarcely  ever  revived  again.  The 
politician  killed  it.  I  could  multiply  illustrations  in- 
definitely to  show  how  the  recognized  leaders  in  col- 
lege, or  those  real  leaders  who  are  quite  a.s  frequently 
unrecognized,  have  changed  customs,  have  controlled 
difficult  situations,  have  promulgated  the  loosest  or 
the  most  rigid  principles. 

The  opportunit}'^  of  the  college  politician  for  good 
or  for  evil  is  almost  unlimited.  He  is  a  far  more 
vital  force  in  the  college  community,  because,  he  is 
so  often  an  unseen  or  an  unrecognized  force  in  de- 
termining the  morals  and  the  ideals  of  the  student 
body,  than  is  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
or  the  whole  body  of  student  pastors,  strong  and  help- 
ful as  the  influences  of  these  instrumentalities  are. 

The  college  official  who  is  held  responsible  for  dis-  ■-- 
cipline  or  for  the  control  of  student  activities  and 
who  does  not  keep  in  the  closest  touch  with  college 
politicians,  wlio  does  not  make  friends  with  them 
and  try  to  understand  their  machinations  will  be 
likely  to  get  on  badly.  When  trouble  is  brewing  he 
will  have  no  premonitions;  when  it  comes  he  will  be 
likely  to  be  in  ignorance  of  its  source.  So  long  as 
he  can  lay  a  restraining,  or  a  directing  hand  upon  the 
college  politician  he  has  solved  the  most  of  his  prob- 
lems of  discipline  and  of  student  control.     If  trouble 


128  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

impends,  he  will  know  where  to  look  for  it;  if  it  fails 
he  knows  who  is  responsible  and  who  can  correct  it, 
for  the  college  politician  dominates  student  senti- 
ments and  student  activities. 


THE  CRIBBER 

I  MIGHT  as  well  frankly  confess  at  the  outset  of 
this  paper  that  I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  cribbing 
from  tlie  time  I  entered  college  to  the  present  day, 
and  I  have  been  told  of  a  great  deal  more  than  T 
have  seen.  As  an  undergraduate  I  knew  men  who 
never  pretended  to  get  through  an  examination  with- 
out relying  upon  some  subterfuge  or  trick  or  dishon- 
est aid,  and  who  would  put  more  time  twice  over  upon 
the  devising  of  a  cunning  complicated  crib,  than  it 
would  have  taken  to  learn  by  heart  the  whole  text 
upon  which  they  were  preparing  to  be  examined.  I 
have  known  other  men,  keen -brained  and  studious, 
who  could  have  written  with  higli  credit  any  reason- 
able examination  which  the  instructor  might  have  set, 
and  yet  who  regularly  and  foolishly  carried  a  crib  to 
the  examination  and  used  it. 

I  remember  asking  a  young  sophomore  once  who 
had  been  caught  in  the  act  of  using  a  crib  in  a  final 
examination,  and  who  was  dismissed  from  college  for 
his  dishonesty,  why  he  had  done  so.  He  was  an  in- 
telligent fellow,  and  was  easily  in  the  highest  ten  per 
cent,  of  his  class. 

"  It  was  a  case  of  making  ninety  per  cent,  without 
the  crib  or  ninety-five  per  cent,  with  it,"  he  said, 
"  and  I  was  anxious  to  win  preliminary  honors." 

His  manner  was  as  cold-blooded  and  matter  of  fact 
in  the  discussion  of  the  situation  as  a  careful  house- 
129 


130  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

wife  might  assume  in  swatting  a  persistent  fly.  I 
had  had  no  experience  with  cribbing  until  I  came  to 
college.  If  the  seekers  after  knowledge  in  tlie  little 
rural  community  in  which  I  lived  were  addicted  to 
trickery  and  mental  larceny  1  was  happily  never 
aware  of  it.  It  was  something  of  a  shock  to  me  and 
rather  a  doubtful  compliment  when  in  my  first  col- 
lege examination  the  man  sitting  next  to  me  asked 
me  for  the  sohition  of  the  third  problem.  When  I 
hesitated  not  (juite  understanding  what  he  really 
meant,  he  turned  disgustedly  to  his  nearest  neighbor 
and  copied  the  problem  verbatim.  1  do  not  know 
that  our  college  is  worse  than  others  in  this  respect; 
I  have  talked  to  instructors  from  neighboring  insti- 
tutions who  claim  that  tliere  is  no  cribbing  in  their 
classes,  and  I  have  visited  other  colleges  where  such 
careful  precautions  are  taken  that  cribbing  is  almost 
a  physical  impossibility,  but  in  institutions  in  the 
^liddle  West  organized  as  ours  is,  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  conditions  do  not  materially  differ. 

The  most  surprising  thing  to  me  about  the  man 
who  cribs  is  the  attitude  which  his  fellow  students 
assume  toward  him.  Those  of  his  friends  who  ac- 
(juire  their  college  credits  in  a  manner  similar  to  his 
own  look  upon  him  with  real  admiration.  If  he  is 
not  detected  in  his  dishonesty,  and  so  does  not  come 
to  grief,  he  is  regarded  as  a  good  sport  and  a  shrewd 
fellow.  If  he  is  caught  in  his  irregularity,  he  is 
looked  on  in  somewhat  the  light  of  a  martyr,  whom 
ill-deserved  misfortune  has  overtaken.  Even  the 
honest  man,  wlio  niiiuls  his  own  affairs,  writes  his 
own  examinations,  and  kee])s  himself  absolutely 
within  the  bounds  of  integrity,  is  seldom  afTected  by 


THE  CRIBBER  131 

the  dishonesty  around  him.  He  thinks  no  less  of  the 
cribber;  the  dishonest  man  is  in  no  sense  a  pariah  in 
his  eyes.  It  is  not  his  funeral,  he  says.  If  the  man 
wants  to  crib,  that  is  his  business.  It  is  a  personal 
right,  like  chewing  tobacco,  or  eating  frogs'  legs 
which  no  one  should  interfere  with.  If  the  modern 
undergraduate  should  have  propounded  to  him  the 
question  that  Cain  tried  to  dodge  in  the  Garden,  he 
would  unquestionably  refuse  to  accept  any  responsi- 
bility as  to  his  brother's  conduct ;  it  is  up  to  every 
man  to  look  out  for  himself,  he  would  maintain. 
Even  witli  girls  the  case  is  not  different.  I  have 
known  the  most  popular  and  the  most  influential 
girls  in  college  to  crib  their  way  tlirough  an  examina- 
tion without  apparent  shame,  who  seemed  to  lose  l)y 
the  act  nothing  of  tlieir  influence  or  of  their  popu- 
larity. If  cribbing  is  common  one  does  not  lose 
caste  by  being  guilty  of  it. 

I  used  to  have  the  feeling  that  the  man  who  cribbed 
in  an  examination  did  so  because  he  felt  that  he  hnd 
to  do  so- — -he  was  in  a  corner  from  wliich  he  could 
not  extricate  himself  witliout  resorting  to  some  ille- 
gitimate means  —  I  thought  it  was  usually  a  matter 
of  a  sudden  overwhelming  temptation  to  which  the 
man  yielded  because  the  pressure  was  more  than  he 
could  resist.  Quite  the  contrary-  is  usually  true  — 
nine-tenths  of  the  people  whom  I  have  known  to  crib 
did  not  need  to  do  so  at  all  so  far  as  passing  the 
course  in  question  was  concerned.  They  criblied  be- 
cause thpv  thouelit  it  was  easier,  because  they  did 
not  like  the  instractor,  because  other  people  were  do- 
in?  it.  because  they  thought  tlie  examination  was  un- 
fair, })ecause  they  were  pressed  for  time,  because  they 


132  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

thought  they  were  being  watched  and  they  felt  that 
it  would  be  a  good  joke  to  out\vit  the  proctor;  and 
even  when  they  were  not  caught,  very  few  of  them 
ever  profited  through  a  higher  grade  from  the  crib- 
bing. Most  men  who  are  detected  in  the  act  of  crib- 
bing and  who  are  facing  discipline  sts  a  result  aver 
that  the  time  in  question  is  the  first  time  they  have 
ever  been  guilty  of  the  act.  This  may  be  from  the 
fact  that  the  man  not  caught  the  first  time  develops 
so  much  adroitness  as  never  to  be  caught,  or  it  may 
be  that  he  has  forgotten  his  past  record. 

A  man  when  brought  face  to  face  with  the  facts 
will  usually  admit  his  guilt,  especially  if  the  facts  are 
presented  by  a  single  individual.  Most  young  women 
will  at  first  plead  innocence.  The  explanation  lies 
probably  in  the  fact  that  the  man  feels  tliat  he  has 
less  to  lose  by  admitting  guilt  than  does  the  woman, 
for,  as  things  now  are,  a  man's  damaged  reputation 
is  far  more  easily  repaired  than  is  a  woman's. 

The  cribber,  unless  he  is  detected,  suffers  very  lit- 
tle remorse.  I  am  familiar  witli  the  class  of  melo- 
drama in  fiction  which  pictures  the  young  fellow 
guilty  of  crime  or  dishonesty  racked  and  torn  by 
the  tortures  of  an  accusing  conscience ;  but  in  fact  it 
is  usually  only  when  he  is  in  doubt  as  to  the  success 
of  his  subterfuge,  or  when  he  knows  thai  he  has 
been  detected  and  that  public  disgrace  is  staring  him 
in  the  face,  that  he  begins  to  tliink  and  to  sufl^er. 
It  is  wrong  only  if  you  are  caught,  is  his  philosophy. 
He  excuses  himself  largely  on  the  ground  that  the 
examination  is  a  game,  like  love  and  war,  and  that 
anything  one  does  is  fair  and  unobjectionable  which 
circumvents  the  instructor.     WTien  you  cheat  an  in- 


THE  CRIBBER  133 

structor,  he  argues,  it  is  in  the  same  class  of  virtue 
as  beating  a  corporation  or  evading  taxes,  an  overt 
act  which  any  one  admits  is  to  be  winked  at. 

By  cribbing,  the  student  argues,  he  is  simply  beat- 
ing the  college,  which  stands  to  him  as  a  sort  of  un- 
feeling, overbearing  despot  like  the  railroad  corpora- 
tion to  the  traveler.  If  on  the  other  hand  a  fellow 
student  is  involved  the  whole  situation  changes. 
The  cribber  will  usually  suffer  indefinitely  rather 
than  have  a  pal  come  to  grief  through  his  error  or  his 
carelessness  or  crudeness  of  work.  In  such  an  in- 
stance he  is  usually  quite  willing  to  suffer  anything  in 
order  that  another  undergraduate  may  get  off. 

Just  a  few  weeks  ago  I  had  before  me  two  sopho- 
mores who  had  been  detected  cribbing  in  a  final  ex- 
amination. They  were  equally  guilty,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  our  regular  custom  where  there  are  no  ex- 
tenuating circumstances,  they  were  dismissed.  The 
older  of  the  two  waited  after  our  interview  was  over 
to  say  to  me  that  he  felt  himself  more  to  blame  than 
his  companion.  He  was  older,  he  alleged;  he  should 
have  set  a  better  example.  Besides  the  younger  man, 
who  was  by  the  way  in  no  sense  a  personal  friend  of 
his  I  knew,  was  a  promising  athlete.  The  college 
could  not  afford  to  lose  him.  He  was  anxious  then, 
he  said,  to  bear  tlie  whole  punishment  of  the  misdeed 
if  by  any  arrangement  the  younger  boy  might  go  free. 
It  was  a  generous  offer  which,  perhaps,  showed  more 
truly  the  boy's  real  character  than  his  error  in  con- 
duct had  done,  but  it  was  one  which  I  did  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  accept. 

Another  instance,  also,  shows  the  attitude  wliich 
the  cribber  takes  towards  his  fellow  students.     Two 


134  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

juniors  had  been  suspected  of  dishonesty  in  an  exam- 
ination and  had  been  reported  to  me.  One  was  with- 
out prominence  in  student  affairs,  the  other  the  cap- 
tain of  an  athletic  team  counted  upon  to  win.  An 
examination  of  the  evidence  showed  beyond  doubt 
that  one  of  the  two  men  had  copied  from  the  other, 
though  it  was  not  clear  which  one.  I  discussed  the 
situation  with  each  separately,  and  with  apparent 
frankness  they  told  me  the  facts.  The  athlete  was 
innocent,  he  said.  The  older  man  confessed  that  he 
had  been  the  dishonest  one,  and  was  dismissed. 
Years  afterward  I  learned  tliat  the  men  had  talked 
the  matter  over  before  coming  in  to  see  me  and  had 
agreed  to  lie,  the  man  of  little  prominence  being  the 
willing  sacrifice  in  order  that  the  craven  coward  ath- 
lete might  be  saved.  It  makes  me  angry  still  when 
I  think  of  it,  distorted  sense  of  honor  though  it  was. 
A  short  time  ago,  in  order  that  I  might  better  un- 
derstand the  student  viewpoint  with  respect  to  crib- 
bing, I  prepared  and  sent  to  a  selected  list  of  four 
hundred  undergraduate  men,  a  questionnaire.  The 
queries  were  as  follows: 

1.  What  percentage  of  the  members  of  your  classes 
do  you  think  sometimes  crib? 

2.  Is  this  percentage  larger  in  some  kinds  of 
courses  than  in  others,  as  for  instance,  mathematics, 
rhetoric,  chemistry,  etc.,  and  if  so,  in  what  kinds? 

3.  Under  some  kinds  of  instructors  than  under 
others,  and  if  so,  under  what  kinds? 

4.  What  form  of  cribbing  is  most  common? 

5.  What  seems  to  be  the  most  common  reason  or 
defense  given? 

6.  If  vou  have  ever  cribbed  what  was  the  situation? 


THE  CRIBBER  135 

7.  If  you  were  charged  with  cribbing  by  what  kind 
of  committee  would  you  prefer  to  be  heard, —  a  com- 
mittee of  older  members  of  the  faculty,  a  committee 
of  younger  members  of  the  faculty  chosen  by  the  stu- 
dents, or  a  committee  of  students?  Please  state  the 
reason  of  your  answer. 

8.  Do  you  think  it  more  objectionable  to  receive  in- 
formation than  to  give  it  ? 

9.  Would  you  volunteer  information  to  a  commit- 
tee of  the  faculty  concerning  a  fellow  student  who  to 
your  knowledge  had  cribbed? 

10.  To  a  student  committee? 

11.  Would  you  give  information  in  either  case  if 
asked  to  do  so  ? 

12.  What  kind  of  punishment  or  procedure  if  any 
do  you  think  is  likely  to  be  most  effective  in  curbing 
the  practice  of  cribbing? 

The  list  to  whom  the  questionnaire  was  sent  was 
a  carefully  selected  one  comprising  members  of  all 
classes,  representatives  of  all  organizations,  and  men 
of  all  types  and  affiliations.  I  explained  that  by 
cribbing  I  meant  to  include  the  using  of  text  books 
or  other  written  helps,  the  receiving  of  help  of  any 
sort  from  other  students,  or  tlie  giving  of  help  of 
any  kind  to  such  other  students.  Students  were  not 
asked  to  sign  their  names  to  the  papers  returned,  and 
it  was  indicated  that  the  information  obtained  would 
not  be  used  in  any  way  to  the  detriment  of  individual 
students.  A  large  percentage  of  the  papers  were  re- 
turned, and  every  one,  so  far  as  I  remember,  seemed 
to  answer  the  questions  seriously  and  frankly.  The 
papers  were  "  keyed  "  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it 
possible  to  tell  which  came  from  men  living  in  fra- 


136  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

ternity  houses  and  which  ones  from  men  not  so  affil- 
iated; other  than  tliis  there  was  no  mark  upon  the 
papers  to  identify  the  writers.  In  almost  every  case 
the  fraternity  man  was  more  radical  or  more  pessi- 
mistic than  his  independent  college  mate,  a  situation 
explainable,  perhaps,  from  the  fact  that  fraternity 
men,  living  in  a  somewhat  more  congested  way  than 
other  men,  are  likely  to  have  closer  associations,  to 
know  more  about  what  is  actually  going  on  among 
each  other  and,  because  of  their  close  personal 
friendly  relations,  to  be  franker  and  more  open  in 
confessing  their  derelictions. 

Naturally  the  replies  to  the  questions  varied  widely 
in  specific  instances,  but  it  was  interesting  to  see  how^ 
closely  in  the  main  tlie  majority  of  the  students 
agreed.  Seventy  per  cent,  of  the  men  admitted  that 
they  had  cribbed  at  one  time  or  another,  and  fifteen 
per  cent,  of  those  who  sent  in  replies  ignored  the  ques- 
tion. Those  who  affirmed  that  tliey  had  never  them- 
selves cribbed  were  more  optimistic  with  reference  to 
the  universality  of  the  practice  than  were  the  others, 
though  not  more  rigid  in  their  suggestion  as  to  dis- 
cipline. One  man  said  that  in  attempting  to  dis- 
cover how  widespread  the  practice  of  cribbing  was  he 
liad  made  incjuiry  of  twenty  of  his  class-mates  and 
friends,  and  tiiat  nineteen  of  the  twenty  admitted 
that  at  one  time  or  another  they  liad  used  some  ille- 
gitimate method  in  an  examination.  Some  of  the 
men  said  they  had  never  given  the  practice  any  con- 
sideration or  attention,  they  had  paid  attention  solely 
to  their  own  business,  liad  seen  no  one  engaged  in 
(lisiionest  methods,  and  so  had  no  opinion  to  offer. 
More  than   fifty  per  cent,  of  those  answering,  how- 


THE  CRIBBER  137 

ever,  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  practice  of  crib- 
bing is  quite  general. 

The  majority  were  agreed  that  in  courses,  examina- 
tions in  which  require  the  memorization  of  a  con- 
siderable number  of  dates,  or  formulae,  or  isolated 
facts,  cribbing  is  more  prevalent  than  in  courses 
which  admit  more  readily  of  the  discussion  of  gen- 
eral principles.  In  descriptive  geometry,  one  man 
said,  he  tliought  everybody  cribbed.  History,  math- 
ematics, some  courses  in  economics,  and  chemistry, 
it  was  said,  are  the  courses  in  which  most  dishonesty 
is  practiced  because  in  examinations  in  these  courses 
it  is  easier  to  prepare  material  that  can  be  readily 
and  advantageously  used. 

It  was  generally  agreed,  also,  that  certain  types  of 
instructors  stimulate  the  students  to  crib  more  than 
do  others.  Verv'  little  cribbing  is  done  under  the  in- 
structor who  treats  his  students  fairly,  who  seems  to 
look  upon  them  as  honest  gentlemen,  and  wlio  is  in- 
terested in  the  success  and  progress  of  those  he  is 
teacliing. 

"  The  most  cribbing  is  done,"  one  student  wrote, 
"  under  instructors  who  do  not  play  the  game  fairly 
with  the  class,  who  would  rather  than  not  ask  ques- 
tions on  an  examination  which  they  feel  sure  their 
students  can  not  answer.  There  is  more  cheating  un- 
der inexperienced  instructors  wlio  are  working  for  a 
higher  degree,  and  who  feel  that  they  must  fail  a 
certain  percentage  of  their  students  in  order  to  give 
the  impression  that  they  are  deep  and  efficient." 

Another  man  said,  "  The  instructor  who  places 
confidence  in  his  students  gains  their  respect,  and 
as   a   rule   they   treat   him   squarely.     Students    are 


138  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

proud  of  the  fact  that  they  have  cribbed  successfully 
under  a  man  who  is  always  watching  for  cribbers." 

The  following  quotations,  also,  were  interesting: 
"  Cribbing  will  be  carried  on  more  under  an  in- 
structor who  does  not  get  into  personal  touch  with  his 
students.  The  instructor  who  is  human  will  have 
little  trouble  with  cribbing."  "  I  have  heard  it  said 
that  the  sarcastic  instructor  who  by  his  manner  vir- 
tually says  to  his  students,  *  clieat  if  you  dare,  I  bet 
I  catch  you,'  is  the  one  the  student  delights  in  beat- 
ing at  his  own  game."  "  Cribbing  is  most  common 
under  a  very  strict  or  a  very  lenient  instructor." 
"  Any  instructor  who  is  specially  sarcastic  or  who 
does  not  deal  with  his  students  in  an  open  and 
friendly  way  is  sure  to  have  those  in  his  classes  who 
will  try  to  get  through  in  any  conceivable  manner." 

In  reply  to  the  question,  as  to  the  form  of  cribbing 
most  common  there  was  little  agreement,  the  consult- 
ing of  notes  carried  to  class,  looking  on  another  stu- 
dent's paper,  and  verbal  communication  between  stu- 
dents sitting  crowded  together  being  thought  most 
common. 

j\Iore  than  thirty  per  cent,  of  those  who  replied  to 
the  questionnaire  held  that  the  main  excuse  offered 
for  cribbing  lay  in  llie  fact  that  the  specific  examina- 
tion in  question  was  unfair  and  that  examinations  in 
general  are  in  no  sense  an  adequate  test  of  a  student's 
knowledge.  If  the  instructor  knows  in  the  main 
what  the  individual  student  will  be  likely  to  know  be- 
fore he  gives  him  the  test,  why,  the  student  asks, 
should  he  give  him  tlie  test  at  all ;  but  in  asking  this 
question  he  fails  to  realize  that  unless  the  examina- 
tion were  given  the  student  will  not  make  the  mental 


THE  CRIBBER  139 

effort  to  gather  together  the  body  of  facts  and  infor- 
mation which  the  instructor  knows  he  will  possess  if 
the  examination  is  given.  In  addition  to  the  allega- 
tion that  unfair  examinations  induce  cribbing,  the 
justification  of  the  practice,  in  order  of  frequency 
presented,  are  fear  of  failing  the  course,  ignorance  of 
the  points  in  question,  and  the  fact  that  other  people 
do  the  same  thing.  I  once  heard  a  man  claim  that 
the  reason  he  had  never  honestly  scheduled  his  prop- 
erty with  the  tax  collector  was  because  his  neighbors 
never  did.  If  he  scheduled  his  property  honestly,  he 
claimed,  when  his  neighbors  withheld  a  large  part  of 
their  possessions,  he  would  pay  more  than  his  just 
share  of  taxes.  The  cribber  argues  similarly :  he  can 
not  afford  to  be  honest,  for  when  his  companion 
cheats  the  honest  man  suffers  in  comparison  for  his 
honesty,  and  that  he  is  not  willing  to  do.  Besides 
evading  the  responsibility  for  personal  integrity,  he 
argues  from  a  false  premise  in  taking  for  granted 
that  the  man  who  cribs  by  so  doing  increases  his 
scholastic  average.  I  believe  it  could  be  proved,  if 
it  were  possible  to  get  at  the  real  facts,  that  the  crib- 
ber very  seldom  profits  scholastically  from  his  trick- 
ery. The  excuses  which  the  men  offer  for  their  de- 
linquencies were  varied,  but  I  think  no  one  really 
tried  to  justify  himself.  The  excuses  were  all  simply 
subterfuges  to  ease  their  consciences  and  in  no  case 
deceived  even  the  men  who  offered  them. 

With  reference  to  the  tribunal  before  which  they 
were  to  be  heard  if  charged  with  cribbing,  by  far  the 
larger  number  were  in  favor  of  a  committee  com- 
posed of  older  member?  of  the  faculty,  the  reas^ons 
given  being  that  the  judgment  of  such  a  committee 


140  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

would  be  saner,  the  experience  of  the  men  broader, 
and  that  their  decisions  would  be  tempered  with  a 
finer  quality  of  mercy.  Those  who  preferred  to  be 
judged  by  the  younger  men  were  of  the  opinion  that 
such  men,  whether  students  or  members  of  the  fac- 
ulty, would  be  more  lenient  and,  because  they  were 
still  concerned  with,  undergraduate  problems  or  were 
so  slightly  removed  from  them,  would  understand 
and  sympathize  more  fully  with  the  student  in 
trouble  than  would  the  older  man.  So  far  as  actual 
justice  was  concerned  they  were  nearly  all  convinced 
that  the  older  men  would  the  more  completely  at- 
tain this  end  in  their  decisions,  but  they  thought 
the  guilty  would  get  off  with  a  lighter  penalty  the 
younger  the  judges  were.  This  last  conclusion  was 
the  more  interesting  to  me  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
through  my  personal  associations  with  various  men 
on  disciplinary  committees  over  a  period  of  several 
3-ears,  I  have  found  almost  invariably  that  the  under- 
graduate and  the  younger  member  of  the  faculty  is 
likely  to  be  harsher  and  more  severe  in  his  judgments 
of  men  found  guilty  of  dishonesty  when  it  is  put  up 
to  them  to  impose  a  penalty  than  is  the  older  and 
more  experienced  man. 

Seventy  per  cent,  of  those  answering  the  questions 
thought  it  more  objectionable  to  receive  help  than  to 
give  it,  though  the  arguments  advanced  to  justify 
this  point  of  view  were  few  and  frail.  Seven  per 
cent,  did  not  answer  the  question.  One  man  asserted 
that  it  was  impossible  to  refuse  to  give  help  when 
asked  without  being  more  of  a  martyr  to  honorable 
ideals  than  most  college  men  are  willing  to  be.  "  Un- 
der our  present  moral  code,"  another  man  says,  "  a 


THE  CRIBBER  141 

man  who  is  asked  for  aid  has  to  run  the  risk  of  pop- 
ular dislike  if  he  refuses  to  give  it.  This  a  student 
does  not  feel  like  taking  upon  himself."  On  the 
other  side  a  third  student  says,  "  There  is  no  differ- 
ence between  receiving  and  giving  aid.  If  I  give 
opium  to  a  dope  fiend,  I  am  no  better  than  he;  if 
I  am  a  servant  and  give  a  burglar  the  key  to  my  em- 
ployer's house,  I  am  no  better  than  the  burglar;  if  I 
supply  a  fellow  student  with  information  to  copy,  I 
am  as  bad  as  he  is,  because  I  help  him  to  be  dishon- 
est." 

There  was  little  difference  expressed  by  the  men  in 
their  willingness  to  volunteer  information  with  ref- 
erence to  cribbing,  whether  the  committee  in  charge 
of  discipline  were  composed  of  students  or  members 
of  the  faculty.  In  each  case  about  eighty-five  per 
cent,  of  the  men  said  they  would  not  volunteer  infor- 
mation under  any  circumstances,  three  per  cent,  did 
not  answer  the  question,  and  the  remainder  were  will- 
ing to  give  information  if  tlie  conditions  under  which 
it  were  given  were  made  sufficiently  innocuous. 
There  was  a  pretty  general  lack  of  feeling  of  respon- 
sibility suggested  by  the  replies.  The  condition  of 
affairs  was  possibly  to  be  regretted,  they  admitted, 
but  when  at  the  end  of  the  semester  a  student  is 
puslied  into  a  corner  by  a  heartless  instructor  who  en- 
dangers his  intellectual  life,  what  is  to  be  done?  It 
is  hardly  to  be  tliought  of  that  the  suffering  under- 
graduate should  be  still  further  set  upon  by  his  class- 
mates ill  an  attempt  to  beat  the  truth  out  of  him, 
but  rather,  if  opportunity  is  afforded,  that  they 
should  run  to  liis  assistance.  So  strongly  are  some 
of  the  illogical  arguments  presented  that  one  is  al- 


142  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

most  persuaded  for  the  moment  that  not  only  is  hon- 
esty not  the  best  policy,  but  that  in  reality  it  is  no 
policy  at  all. 

The  most  frequently  emphasized  suggestion  for 
improving  conditions  was  to  do  away  with  final  ex- 
aminations entirely  and  depend  upon  weekly  quizzes, 
or  to  make  the  questions  asked  so  general  as  to  ren- 
der a  crib  useless  or  unnecessary.  In  making  these 
suggestions  the  writers  ignored  the  fact  that  there  is 
quite  as  much  cribbing  done  on  daily  work  and 
weekly  quizzes  as  there  is  on  final  examinations,  and 
that  by  laying  the  emphasis  upon  these  methods  of 
testing  a  student's  work  they  simply  shift  the  danger 
point  or  get  from  the  frying  pan  into  the  fire.  The 
honor  system,  more  careful  proctoring,  and  the  sepa- 
ration of  students  so  widely  at  examination  time  that 
communication  is  practically  impossible  were  also 
suggested  as  methods  of  cutting  down  cribbing, 
though  the  opinion  was  expressed  by  many  that  no 
method  could  be  devised  which  would  wholly  banish 
the  practice.  Expulsion,  suspension,  failure  of  tlie 
course,  public  confession,  and  reprimand,  loss  of  gen- 
eral college  credit,  and  the  giving  of  tlie  widest  pub- 
licity to  the  offense  and  the  offender  were  among  the 
remedies  suggested  for  reducing  the  amount  of  crib- 
bing. Perhaps  one  of  the  most  sensible  suggestions 
was  that  students  known  to  be  guilty  of  cribbing 
should  be  permanently  barred  from  participation  in 
college  activities.  From  my  experience  with  stu- 
dents and  from  my  knowledge  of  the  importance 
which  they  attribute  to  participation  in  college  activi- 
ties, I  am  sure  that  many  a  student  would  prefer  to 


THE  CRIBBER  143 

be  dismissed  from  college  than  to  be  prohibited  for 
any  length  of  time  from  participation  in  activities. 

"  Abolishing  specific  numerical  grades,"  one  man 
suggests,  "  would  take  away  from  many  students  a 
strong  temptation  to  crib.  Those  who  desire  to  ex- 
cel are,  under  a  system  of  numerical  grades,  often 
influenced  to  crib  in  order  that  they  may  take  in- 
tellectual precedence  of  their  classmates.  If  spe- 
cific grades  were  done  away  with,  this  condition 
would  not  exist." 

Another  man  writes,  "  I  do  not  believe  that  a  uni- 
versity is  a  place  to  begin  the  primary  teaching  of 
honesty.  A  man's  habits  and  principles  are  formed 
when  he  comes  to  college.  A  young  fellow  should 
be  educated  in  principles  of  honesty  in  the  home 
and  in  the  graded  schools.  If  he  has  not  learned 
these  before  he  comes  to  college  he  is  entitled  to  no 
leniency.  No  one  should  be  given  a  degree  from  a 
university  who  has  grossly  cribbed." 

The  attitude  toward  the  practice  in  most  of  the 
papers  was  one  of  indifference  or  of  justification. 
Especially  in  discussing  the  subject  of  giving  help 
to  a  classmate  in  trouble  was  the  moral  sense  of  the 
writers  dull.  Instead  of  looking  upon  such  a  prac- 
tice as  objectionable  there  was  the  almost  universal 
tendency  to  condone  it  or  even  to  recognize  it  is  a 
virtue.  The  fellow  wlio  would  not  help  a  classmate 
in  need  of  infonnation  in  an  examination  when  he 
was  politely  asked  for  it  was  without  heart  a  great 
number  felt,  and  lacking  in  the  proper  brotherly 
spirit. 

Xo  other  problem  of  student  life  has  given  me  so 


144  DISCIPLIXE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

much  concern  as  the  problem  of  cribbing  and  the  crib- 
ber.  I  believe  sincerely,  as  one  young  fellow  said, 
that  if  the  freshman  entering  college  could  come  into 
an  atmosphere  where  cribliing  was  not  tolerated  and 
where  the  man  who  was  seen  to  crib  or  was  known  to 
crib  lost  caste  and  was  looked  upon  with  disfavor 
he  would  be  given  a  respect  f(ir  truth  and  honesty 
which  would  be  of  incalculable  value  to  him  through- 
out life.  If  a  man  could  live  for  four  years  among 
students  who  looked  down  upon  dishonesty  of  every 
sort,  the  experience  and  the  training  would  be  of  as 
great  value  to  him  as  anything  the  college  could 
teach  him. 

The  man  who  cril)s  is  lacking  a  true  sense  of  hon- 
esty, and  the  companion  who  helps  him  is  impelled 
by  a  false  sense  of  honor.  Leaving  out  of  consid- 
eration the  questions  of  the  morality  of  the  practice, 
which  is  perhaps  tlie  main  question,  but  which  un- 
fortunately will  be  likely  last  to  appeal  to  the  under- 
graduate, the  question  of  expediency  comes  in.  By 
cribbing  the  student  weakens  himself,  robs  himself  of 
training,  lessens  his  self-reliance,  and  so  reduces  the 
probability  of  his  success.  The  cribber  comes  in  most 
cases  not  to  depend  upon  his  own  strength  and  judg- 
ment. ^\'llen  he  strikes  a  hard  problem,  when  he  gets 
into  a  corner,  when  he  meets  intellectual  difficulty, 
his  courage  fails  him,  and  he  calls  at  once  lustily  for 
help.  And  it  is  the  self-reliant  man,  who  can  mar- 
shall  all  his  powers  and  be  sure  of  them,  not  the  man 
who  is  always  looking  for  lielp.  who  is  wanted  in 
every  business.  If  a  student  in  mathematics  allows 
some  one  to  work  his  home  i)roI)lcms  for  him  and 
then  cribs  from  his  neighbor  in  the  final  exaraina- 


THE  CRIBBER  145 

tion,  what  does  he  expect  to  do  after  he  leaves  college 
when  the  questions  which  involve  such  mathematical 
computations  are  before  him  for  solution?  There 
very  likely  M-ili  be  no  one  to  work  them  out  for  him 
and  no  friendly  neighbor  engaged  with  the  same 
difficulties  from  whom  he  may  crib.  He  has  followed 
a  practice  in  college  which  has  left  him  helpless  after 
he  is  out. 

A  young  chemist  whom  I  once  knew,  whose  college 
work  required  the  analysis  of  a  rather  large  number 
of  unknowns,  by  chance  happened  upon  the  table  of 
results  which  had  been  worked  out  by  the  instructor 
and  by  skillfully  changing  his  own  results  slightly 
so  that  they  might  be  within  the  percentage  of  varia- 
tion and  error  allowed,  was  able  to  meet  tlie  require- 
ments of  the  course  without  really  going  through  any 
of  the  woi-k.  He  was  detected  and  dismissed,  but 
even  if  he  had  been  clever  enough  to  carry  out  his  in- 
tentions he  would  ultimately  have  been  the  loser,  be- 
cause he  would  have  lacked  the  training  and  the  ex- 
perience to  pursue  the  calling  for  which  he  was  pre- 
paring. The  cribber  does  not  think  of  the  future; 
he  is  concerned  wholly  with  the  present  safety  of  his 
skin. 

"  But  one  has  to  get  through  some  way,"  a  cribber 
said  to  mc  by  way  of  excuse  for  the  dereliction  in 
which  he  had  been  detected. 

"  How  about  the  influence  of  this  upon  your  gen- 
eral character  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  You  don't  think  that  because  T  wasn't  square  on 
this  measloy  little  examination  T  would  lie  or  steal 
or  cheat  my  employer,  do  you?  " 

"  Why,  yes,"   I   replied ;  ''•  I   think  you  are  much 


146  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

more  likely  to  do  so.  If  you  are  tricky  and  shifty 
and  dishonest  with  one  man,  even  if  he  happens  to 
be  only  your  instructor,  the  chances  are  that  you  will 
find  it  more  difficult  to  be  entirely  above  board  with 
other  men  even  though  the  relationship  which  you 
stand  in  to  them  is  a  different  one." 

The  cribber  is,  then,  not  quite  so  safe  a  man  to 
trust,  his  principles  of  integrity  are  not  so  solidly 
grounded,  his  standards  of  honesty  are  somewhat 
more  flexible;  he  does  not  quite  ring  true.  He 
would  pick  up  a  needed  umbrella  with  fewer  com- 
punctions of  conscience  than  others  of  his  mates ;  he 
would  repay  a  small  loan  with  more  reluctance ;  he 
would  borrow  your  clothing,  or  your  stationery,  or 
your  stamps  with  less  elaborate  ceremonies  than  the 
really  honest  man  and  would  be  among  the  last  to 
return  them.  He  has  a  treacherous  memory  with 
reference  to  other  things  than  dates  and  formulae 
and  details.  The  irregularity  of  which  he  is  guilty 
is  in  many  cases,  I  am  quite  willing  to  admit,  a  venial 
one,  but  it  leaves  his  character  a  little  soiled.  The 
lowering  influence,  also,  which  such  an  act  on  the 
part  of  an  upper-classman  or  of  a  loading  man  in 
college  has  upon  a  student  just  entering  is  incal- 
culable. 

"  How  can  you  expect  us  to  be  honest  ?  "  a  fresh- 
man asked  me  last  year.  "  It  is  true  the  upper-class- 
men in  our  house  warn  us  constantly  against  crib- 
bing, but  it  is  not  because  they  feel  that  it  is  wrong. 
They  simply  think  that  wo  are  not  yet  wise  and  clever 
enough  to  get  by  with  it;  thoy  are  afraid  we  shall  be 
caught  and  that  they  will  be  annoyed  by  the  disgrace 
of  the  exposure.     We  know  all  the  time  that  they  crib 


THE  CRIBBER  147 

even  while  they  are  warning  us  against  the  dangers 
of  it,  and  we  are  stimulated  to  trj'  it  ourselves,  rather 
than  restrained  by  their  warnings." 

The  cribber,  if  he  is  successful,  is  likely  to  be  a 
grafter.  Having  managed  to  get  something  for 
nothing,  or  to  suppose  that  he  has  done  so  in  his 
intellectual  relationshpis,  he  is  not  satisfied  until  he 
takes  a  hand  in  activities,  and  when  he  gets  into  ac- 
tivities he  is  not  there  for  his  health  alone,  nor  for 
the  public  recognition,  or  honor  which  may  accrue. 
He  is  out  for  the  loot.  It  is  easy  for  him  to  argue 
that  since  he  is  entitled  to  some  compensation  for  the 
services,  real  or  imagined,  which  he  has  performed,  it 
is  quite  unobjectionable  for  him  to  pay  himself,  since 
the  red  tape  to  be  unwound,  if  he  should  seek  re- 
muneration in  the  regular  way,  is  often  tiresomely 
complicated,  and  the  possibility  of  his  getting  any- 
thing at  all  is  distressingly  remote.  He  is  an  advo- 
cate of  efficiency  and  uses  a  short-cut  method  by  ap- 
propriating what  he  considers  himself  entitled  to 
and  salves  his  conscience,  if  it  gives  any  indication  of 
activity,  by  saying  that  they  all  do  it  anyway,  and  if 
he  doesn't  take  tlie  money  some  one  else  will. 

All  this  is  a  sad  preparation  for  good  citizenship. 
If  a  young  man  can  be  depended  upon  to  do  the  hon- 
est thing  only  when  it  is  easy,  only  when  all  other 
men  are  known  to  be  honest,  only  when  it  is  to  his 
personal  and  financial  advantage  to  be  so,  he  is  little 
fitted  for  responsibility  and  service,  and  yet  such 
conditions  are  quite  in  accord  witli  the  doctrines  of 
the  man  wlio  cribs. 

I  was  in  conversation,  not  long  ago,  with  a  busi- 
ness man  who  held  a  position  of  the  greatest  promi- 


148  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

nence  and  trust  in  one  of  the  largest  corporations  of 
the  Middle  West.  He  confessed  to  me  that  he  had 
had  little  education  and  training  as  a  boy  before  he 
became  a  part  of  the  business.  What  he  knew  he  had 
acquired  througli  practical  experience,  through  hard 
knocks,  through  willingness  to  work,  and  what  he  had 
accomplished  he  had  done  without  influence  or  pull. 

"  How  does  it  come,  then,"  I  asked,  "  that  you 
have  been  placed  in  so  prominent  a  position  at  so 
early  an  age?  "  for  he  was  still  a  comparatively  young 
man. 

"  There  is  but  one  reason,"  he  replied.  "  I  have 
a  single  virtue.  I  proved  myself  to  the  company  by 
many  tests  to  be  absolutely  honest.  It  is  that  qual- 
ity which  gave  me  my  position,  and  it  is  tlirough  that 
quality  that  I  hold  it."  I  told  the  story  later  to  a 
cribber. 

There  is  one  solution,  it  seems  to  me,  to  the  dif- 
ficulty, one  cure  for  the  evil  of  cribbing, —  the  crea- 
tion of  a  strong  healtliy  student  sentiment  against  it. 
Kigid  discipline  will  help,  but  it  will  not  wipe  out  the 
evil.  Whatever  discipline  is  enforced  must  appeal 
to  the  good  judgment  of  the  better  class  of  students 
as  just.  WHienever  in  the  minds  of  the  body  of  un- 
dergraduates the  character  of  the  discipline  enforced 
by  the  faculty  seems  cruel  or  over-severe,  one  of  the 
main  purposes  of  discipline,  the  deterring  of  mis- 
deeds, is  lost;  for  the  student  wlio  is  thought  to  have 
been  disciplined  too  severely  becomes  at  once,  in  the 
minds  of  his  friends  and  companions,  a  martyr  to  be 
sympathized  with  and  pitied  and  made  a  hero  of. 
When  such  a  condition  arises  the  evil  is  rather  likely 
to  increase  than  to  lessen. 


THE  CRIBBER  149 

The  evil  of  cribbing  would  be  far  more  easily  con- 
trolled and  the  cribber  more  rapidly  eliminated  if 
the  members  of  the  faculty  were  as  a  whole  alert  and 
helpful.  In  fact  many  of  them  are  indifferent,  and 
many  more  are  asleep.  They  are  in  most  cases,  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  as  indifferent  to  the  situation  as  is  the 
undergraduate  himself. 

"  If  my  students  want  to  crib  in  my  classes,"  I 
often  hear  an  instructor  say,  "they  may;  it  isn't  up 
to  me  to  act  as  a  spy  and  a  policeman  over  them.  If 
they  do  crib,  I  should  rather  not  see  them,  and  even 
when  I  might  be  led  to  suspect  that  they  were  do- 
ing so,  I  prefer  to  think  well  of  them,  and  to  treat 
them  as  if  they  were  gentlemen."  And  no  one  better 
than  the  student  knows  exactly  how  the  individual  in- 
structor feels  about  these  matters,  and  no  one  thing 
is  more  potent  in  helping  to  confirm  him  in  the  habit 
of  cribbing  than  this  same  indifference  on  the  part 
of  his  instructors. 

"  You  can't  tell  me  that  '  Bobby '  doesn't  know 
about  that  cribbing  that  goes  on  in  his  class,"  a 
junior  said.  "  He's  too  sly  a  dog  not  to  get  onto  a 
practice  that  is  as  open  as  cribbing  in  his  class.  He 
doesn't  want  the  trouble  or  the  unpopularity  that 
would  result  if  he  reported  the  men,  and  so  he  pre- 
fers not  to  see  what  is  going  on."  But  in  refusing 
to  see  it  he  lost  the  respect  even  of  those  wlio  were 
cribbing  under  him,  and  indirectly  encouraged  one 
of  the  most  vicious  practices  in  college.  A  good 
many  members  of  the  faculty  feel  that  their  honor 
has  been  compromised  when  they  report  a  man  sus- 
pected of  cribbing  and  those  in  charge  of  disciplinary 
matters  do  not  find  him  guilty. 


150  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

''*  1  shall  never  report  a  man  again  for  dishonesty," 
an  instructor  old  enough  to  have  more  sense,  said  to 
me  not  long  ago. 

"Why?"  I  asked. 

"  Because  I  reported  Hanley  last  year,  and  the 
committee  let  him  go." 

"  But  there  was  no  convincing  evidence  that  he 
had  cribbed,"  I  protested. 

"  Perhaps  not,"  he  admitted,  "  but  the  whole  affair 
put  me  into  a  very  embarrassing  position,  and  such  a 
position  as  I  don't  propose  to  get  into  again  soon.  If 
my  men  want  to  crib  I'll  flunk  them  or  ignore  the 
fact." 

Another  class  of  instructors  refuses  to  take  any 
responsibility  for  the  crihber  because  they  allege  that 
when  he  is  cauglit  the  penalty  imposed  is  not  to  their 
liking.  One  man  says  that  he  will  report  no  more 
men  who  are  dishonest  because  the  penalty  of  dismis- 
sal for  half  a  year  or  longer,  which  we  ordinarily  im- 
pose upon  men  above  the  freshmen  year,  is  too  se- 
vere. He  prefers,  he  says,  to  handle  his  own  cases, 
which  means  that  it  pleases  him  best  to  pay  no  atten- 
tion to  them,  or  to  delude  himself  into  the  belief  that 
there  are  none.  Another  instructor  refuses  to  take 
the  subject  of  cribbing  seriously  because  from  his 
point  of  view  the  penalty  imposed  upon  the  guilty 
ones  is  a  joke.  He  would  expel  or  behead  every  man 
guilty  of  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  path  of  in- 
tegrity. Thus  both  the  conservative  and  the  radical 
indirectly  helps  to  confirm  the  student  in  his  habit  of 
irregularity. 

The  type  of  instructor  who  by  his  manner  virtu- 
ally gives  a  challenge  to  his  students  to  crib  regu- 


THE  CRIBBER  151 

larly  helps  in  the  practice,  ^\^^en  you  tell  a  student 
that  you  are  so  clever  that  you  will  be  quite  willing 
to  have  him  fool  you  if  he  can,  3'ou  have  given  him 
a  dare,  and  his  brain  at  once  begins  to  work  in  a  de- 
termination to  outwit  you.  The  instructor  in  whose 
classes  there  are  more  cribbers  than  in  any  other  I 
know  is  the  one  who  alleges  that  he  takes  nobody's 
word,  and  who  announces  that  if  any  undergraduate 
cribs  in  his  class  he  will  find  it  necessary  to  get  up 
pretty  early  in  the  morning.  If  instructors  would 
be  less  indifferent,  if  they  would  use  more  common 
sense,  and  if  they  would  report  for  discipline  all 
students  who  are  detected  cribbing,  the  number  of 
cribbers  would  be  materially  lessened. 

The  cribber  could  be  discouraged  if  more  precau- 
tions were  taken  in  the  conduct  of  examinations.  No 
one  can  deny  that,  when  we  take  into  consideration 
what  hangs  upon  the  result  of  the  test,  the  temptation 
to  dishonesty  in  final  examinations  is  not  small.  No 
faculty,  therefore,  it  seems  to  me,  can  possibly  Jus- 
tify itself  until  it  makes  the  conditions  under  which 
examinations  are  given  as  thoroughly  as  possible  con- 
ducive to  honesty.  With  a  little  care  in  any  institu- 
tion the  student  undergoing  examination  could  be  so 
situated  that  even  if  it  were  not  impossible  for  him  to 
cheat,  it  would  at  least  be  difficult.  As  it  is  now  in 
many  institutions,  the  undergraduates  at  examination 
time  are  so  crowded  together  that  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible for  them  to  be  honest  if  they  desire  to  be.  Stu- 
dents using  the  same  questions  are  sitting  elbow 
to  elbow.  If  they  look  around  it  is  easy  to  see  what 
the  man  on  each  side  and  in  front  of  them  is  writ- 
ing, and  communication  by  word  of  mouth  or  by 


152  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

means  of  notes  passed  is  as  easy  and  free  as  talk  at  an 
afternoon  tea.  The  instructor  usually  looks  on  in- 
differently, engaged  in  reading  the  newspaper  or  in 
the  solution  of  some  of  his  own  intellectual  or  domes- 
tice  difficulties,  or  he  quite  as  likely  strolls  out  of 
the  room  entirely  to  do  an  errand  for  his  wife,  or  to 
get  a  breath  of  air  for  his  health.  There  is  no  ade- 
quate supervision,  no  adequate  proctoring.  The 
students  are  not  on  their  honor,  and  they  know  they 
are  not,  and  even  if  the  instructor  announced  that 
they  were,  they  would  seldom  accept  the  announce- 
ment as  authentic  since  it  had  been  made  without 
discussion  with  them  and  without  their  consent. 
The  honor  system  would  help,  but  it  would  be  worse 
than  useless  unless  it  were  backed  strongly  by  student 
sentiment.  If  three-fourths  of  the  student  body  were 
of  the  opinion  that  the  practice  of  cribbing  is  wron'T, 
that  it  sliould  go,  and  that  they  are  not  only  willii.;^ 
not  to  crib  themselves  but  that  they  will  report  e\ovy 
man  wlio  is  known  to  crib,  the  practice  would  soon 
be  upon  its  last  legs.  It  is  not  so  difficult  to  interest 
a  considerable  number  of  students  to  the  extent  that 
they  will  airree  to  honesty  of  procedure  themselves, 
but  it  is  nltOLicther  another  matter  when  it  comes  to 
their  assuming  responsibility  for  the  conduct  of 
others.  "  I  would  myself  agree  not  to  crib,"  students 
say  to  me  over  and  over  again,  "  but  I  would  not 
report  a  man  whom  I  saw  crib  or  even  talk  to  him 
about  the  matter."  But  this,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the 
logical  solution  of  the  whole  matter  —  student  senti- 
ment and  student  responsibility.  So  long  as  crib- 
bing is  an  affair  between  faculty  and  students  it  may 
be  ameliorated,  but  it  will  never  be  fullv  cured.     It 


THE  CRIBBER  153 

is  only  when  the  student  loses  favor  or  standing  or 
caste  with  his  mates  through  dishonesty  that  he  will 
take  the  matter  of  cribbing  seriously.  A  student 
can  stand  anything  else  better  than  to  be  distrusted 
or  disliked  by  his  own  undergraduate  associates. 

Xot  long  ago  we  had  in  control  of  our  student 
paper  one  who  could  find  little  to  approve  of  in 
our  university  organization  and  control.  Everything 
was  wrong:  the  system  of  teacliing,  the  development 
of  research,  the  construction  of  buildings,  the  super- 
vision of  student  activities,  the  general  attitude  and 
composition  of  the  faculty,  w^ere  all  hopelessly  and  ir- 
revocably wrong.  He  stirred  a  good  deal  of  feeling 
among  the  authorities,  he  irritated  and  offended 
scores  of  our  faculty,  but  the  more  opposition  he 
aroused  the  better  he  liked  it,  for  it  gave  him  the 
feeling  of  a  reformer.  He  had  a  considerable  follow- 
ing of  undergraduate  sympathizers,  he  won  the  ap- 
proval of  a  certain  number  of  instructors  wlio  were 
glad  to  have  him  voice  tlie  sentiments  that  they  might 
have  been  afraid  themselves  to  utter,  and  he  did  not 
care  a  picayune  what  the  administration  thought  of 
him.  But  one  day  he  entered  upon  another  field. 
Delighted  with  liis  success  as  a  stirrer  up  of  trouble 
among  the  faculty,  he  began  a  heavy  onslauglit  upon 
a  disreputable  student  practice.  He  was  somewliat 
surprised  on  the  day  following  the  appearance  of  his 
editorial  to  find  that  his  old  friends  were  not  so  cor- 
dial; his  former  acquaintances  looked  at  him  coldly 
as  they  passed  him  or  crossed  to  the  other  side  of  the 
street  to  avoid  meeting  him;  the  cold  shoulder  was 
L'iveii  him  wherever  he  went.  It  was  all  right  to  crit- 
icize the  faculty ;  the  criticism  of  their  own  personal 


154  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

derelictions  and  evasions  of  duty  did  not  take  so 
kindly  with  his  undergraduate  friends.  He  never 
wrote  another  editorial  on  the  tabooed  subject,  for  he 
could  not  stand  the  unpopularity  which  such  writing 
brought  him ;  he  did  not  have  the  courage  to  go 
against  public  sentiment  as  expressed  by  his  asso- 
ciates. 

So  cribbing  and  the  cribber  will  go  when  the  crib- 
ber  losing  social  standing,  is  not  looked  upon  with 
favor,  is  not  regarded  as  a  gentleman.  So  long  as 
undergraduate  sentiment  toward  this  sort  of  dishon- 
esty is  indifferent  or  tends  to  condone  it,  the  practice 
will  continue.  General  student  sentiment  against 
the  man  who  practices  dishonesty  in  his  college  work 
would  cause  him  to  disappear  over  night. 


THE  ATHLETE 

For  many  a  generation  past  the  athlete  has  been 
the  undergraduate  idol,  the  big  man  in  college,  the 
god  whom  the  incoming  freshman  worshiped  and 
to  whose  attributes  and  accomplishments  he  hoped 
through  physical  tribulations  to  attain.  There  may 
have  been  a  time,  when  our  great  grandfathers  were 
in  college,  that  the  orator  or  the  scholar  was  most 
envied  and  emulated  by  the  ambitious  undergradu- 
ate, but,  if  so,  that  time  is  long  past.  The  student 
crowd  will  go  wild  over  a  successful  athlete,  shout- 
ing themselves  hoarse  in  proclaiming  his  excellencies, 
and  fighting  like  demons  to  get  a  chance  to  carr\'  him 
off  the  field.  No  one  molests  the  orator  or  the 
scholar  or  follows  him  down  the  street  with  an  ova- 
tion. They  have  an  unobstructed  path  from  the 
scene  of  their  accomplishments  to  their  lodging 
houses. 

Don't  misunderstand  me:  I  am  in  no  sense  ad- 
vocating or  defending  this  condition  of  affairs ;  I  am 
simply  making  a  conservative  statement  of  facts. 
Scholarship  may  be  and  should  be  the  goal  toward 
which  the  ambitious  undergraduate  in  general  is 
struggling,  but  physical  strengtli  and  pliysical  accom- 
plishment is  in  reality  what  youth  most  admires. 
We  miglit  as  well  recognize  and  acknowledge  the  fact, 
change  it  if  we  can,  and  become  resigned  to  it  if  we 
must. 

155 


156  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

We  had  for  many  years  at  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois, permitted  —  I  scarcely  dare  to  say  approved  — 
by  the  faculty,  an  underclass  contest  or  "  scrap " 
which  took  place  early  in  the  fall  and  which  fur- 
nished an  outlet  for  the  class  feeling  and  class  rivalry 
which  has  been  extant  in  colleges  between  freshman 
and  sophomore  classes  from  time  immemorial.  The 
contest  took  on  various  forms  during  the  twenty-five 
years  or  more  of  its  continuance.  It  was  always  a 
test  of  physical  strength,  directed  at  rare  intervals  by 
some  little  brains ;  it  was  rougli,  not  without  danger, 
and  occasionally  to  the  onlooker  it  presented  strong 
symptoms  of  brutality,  though  I  believe,  through  the 
providence  which  is  said  to  watch  carefully  over  fools 
and  children,  no  contestant  was  ever  seriously  hurt. 
Ultimately  through  the  influence  of  certain  members 
of  our  faculty,  nervous  or  soft-hearted,  the  contest 
was  barred.  The  main  arguments  against  it  were  the 
danger  involved,  the  fact  tliat  such  a  contest  was  un- 
dignified and  out  of  keeping  with  the  character  of  col- 
lege gentlemen,  and  most  strongly  urged,  perhaps, 
was  the  argument  that  our  college  man  of  to-day  is 
more  refined,  more  intellectual,  and  less  given  to 
rough  boisterous  sport  than  was  true  a  generation  or 
two  ago.  1  may  he  pardoned,  I  hope,  if  I  decline 
to  believe  this  statement.  Tlie  young  college  man  of 
to-day  is  in  many  respects  as  barbaric  as  he  was  a 
hundred  years  ago,  he  is  just  as  fond  of  a  fight,  just 
as  much  an  admirer  of  physical  strength  and  pliysical 
contests  as  lie  ever  was,  and  tliat  is  why  the  athlete  is 
going  to  continue  to  be  for  the  growing  youth  a  hero, 
and  in  college  the  person  to  be  most  admired  and 
emulated. 


THE  ATHLETE  157 

The  athlete  in  college  was  not  always  so  worthy  of 
emulation  as  he  is  at  present.     I  do  not  have  to  go 
back  farther  than  my  own  college  days  nor  even  so 
far  as  that  to  recall  instances  of  men  who  found  their 
way  into  colleges  for  the  sole  purpose  of  developing 
or  exhibiting  their  physical  powers,  of  making  an 
athletic  team,  and  without  any  intention  of  adding  to 
their  intellectual  strength.     ^Ir.  George  Ade's  crude 
young    Hercules    in    the    "  College    Widow "    whose 
ostensible  purpose  in  entering  college  was  the  study 
of  art  but  whose  real  object  was  to  help  make  a  win- 
ning football  team,  miglit  find  a  counterpart  in  many 
another  college.     I  myself  can  recall  a  big  hulk  of 
human  bull  who  had  been  employed  about  town  in 
driving  an  ice  wagon  and  who  was  drafted  by  a  few 
local  enthusiasts  to  enter  college  in  order  that  he 
might  play  center  on  the  football  team.     He  was  a 
crudely  impossible  yokel,  and  unfortunately  of  little 
use,  for  he  liad  no  brains  to  manage  his  brawn,  and 
proved  more  of  a  hindrance  than  a  help.     Such  pro- 
ceedings as  his  are  happily  at  an  end  in  self-respect- 
ing colleges,  and  the  athlete  of  to-day  is  a  very  dif- 
ferent character  morally  and  schola.stically  than  he 
once  was.     For  membership  on  one  of  the  iVIiddle- 
West  conference  teams,  at  least,  a  man   must  be  a 
bona-hde   student,   must   be   in   good   standing,   ami 
must  have  carried  a  full  year's  college  work  in  the 
institution  which  he  wishes  to  represent.     Our  own 
atliletes  for  years  have  maintained  a  seliolastic  stand- 
ing considerably  above  tliat  of  the  average  man  in 
college  and  in  many  cases,  in  fact  proportionately  in 
quite  as  many  cases  as  tlie  men  not  in  atliletics,  have 
attained  a  standinor  which  has  entitled  them  to  elec- 


158  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

tion  to  such  honorary  organizations  as  Phi  Beta 
Kappa,  Sigma  Xi,  and  Tau  Beta  Pi.  In  conference 
colleges  the  athlete  as  a  class  is  not  a  flunker,  for 
when  he  becomes  a  flunker  he  can  no  longer  represent 
liis  college  as  an  athlete.  No  more  is  he  satisfied 
merely  to  pass,  for  he  has  been  taught  that  intellect- 
ually, at  least,  a  miss  is  not  nearly  so  good  as  a  mile, 
and  that  his  physical  safety  lies  in  making  his  intel- 
lectual calling  absolutely  sure. 

The  athlete  is  the  best  known  man  in  college.  The 
man  who  made  high  scholastic  average  for  the  year  is 
occasionally  pointed  out;  the  editor  of  the  college 
daily,  or  the  student  colonel  of  the  cadet  regiment 
may  swagger  a  little  as  he  walks  across  the  campus; 
the  fellow  who  took  the  role  of  leading  lady  at  the 
spring  performance  of  the  Union  opera  may  cause  a 
few  admirers  to  crane  tlieir  necks  as  he  passes,  but 
every  one  knows  the  athlete.  When  "  Shorty " 
Pighter  made  three  home  runs  in  the  last  baseball 
game  with  Chicago  and  settled  the  conference  cham- 
pionship for  that  year,  lie  was  a  bigger  man  in  the 
eyes  of  the  undergraduates  tlian  if  he  had  been  presi- 
dent of  the  steel  trust  or  Ambassador  to  the  court  of 
St.  James.  There  wasn't  any  one  in  the  country, 
they  were  quite  convinced,  who  had  anything  on 
"  Shorty." 

The  athlete  sometimes  excuses  his  too  vigorous  par- 
ticipation in  physical  affairs  to  the  consequent  detri- 
ment of  his  studies  on  the  ground  that  it  is  for  the 
good  of  the  college  —  it  is  all  for  the  love  of  Alma 
Mater.  There  is  very  little  to  such  talk.  The  real 
athlete  is  such  from  pure  love  of  it.  He  longs  for  a 
fight ;  lie  enjoys  being  in  a  contest ;  he  is  overflowing 


THE  ATHLETE  159 

with  strength  and  animal  spirits ;  it  gives  him 
pleasure  to  win,  and  if  through  his  winning  Alma 
Mater  gets  an  incidental  mention  he  is  not  annoyed. 
Few  athletes  consider  the  time  they  put  in  in  practice 
or  the  punishment  they  receive  in  a  game  as  a  sac- 
rifice; the  joy  of  contest  and  of  victory  more  than 
outweighs  all  the  sacrifice  and  pain  endured.  If 
there  is  doubt  of  this  in  any  one's  mind  let  him  watch 
the  successful  athlete  as  he  looks  over  the  sporting 
sheet  of  the  Sunday  paper  following  a  successful  game 
or  meet  and  reads  his  own  eulogy  and  sees  his  own 
photograph ;  there  is  very  little  thought  of  Alma 
Mater  in  his  mind  at  such  a  time. 

Because  he  is  so  well  known,  there  is  no  one  else  in 
college  whose  daily  life  is  so  much  under  observation, 
whose  habits  and  ideals  and  accomplishm.ents  are  so 
much  discussed  and  whose  dicta  count  so  much  in 
setting  the  standards  for  the  college  community. 
What  the  athlete  thinks  and  does  determines  what  is 
right;  what  he  says  settles  a  matter  for  all  time.  He 
can  quell  a  riot  or  stop  an  objectionable  undergrad- 
uate practice  with  a  word,  if  he  will.  He  is  often  so 
harassed  by  the  severe  exactions  of  his  athletic  train- 
ing and  by  the  necessity,  under  this  training,  of  keep- 
ing up  his  college  work,  that  he  has  little  time  for 
leadership  in  any  active  way,  and  though  lie  stands 
out  in  a  notable  manner  as  an  example  which  the 
students  in  general  are  likely  and  willing  to  follow, 
he  usually  makes  a  poor  chairman  of  a  committee,  an 
indifferent  president  of  an  organization,  and  a  not 
very  active  member  of  anytliing  that  requires  aggres- 
sive leadership.  He  takes  the  popularity,  and  the 
prominence,  and  the  adulation,  but  he  side-steps  the 


160  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

responsibility  which  this  prominence  brings  him.  I 
have  known  a  number  of  athletes  who  were  elected 
president  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
but  I  do  not  now  recall  one  who  was  any  good  in  the 
office;  as  class  officers  and  as  presidents  of  student  or- 
ganizations they  have  pretty  generally  been  figure- 
heads, put  into  office  for  advertising  purposes  only, 
as  prominent  men  in  real  life  sometimes  lend  their 
names  to  the  furtherance  of  some  enterprise  or  to  the 
advertising  of  some  nostrum  in  which  they  have  little 
real  interest. 

There  are  exceptions,  of  course,  many  of  them, 
and  one  I  recall  which  is  a  joy  to  remember.  He  was 
a  big  husky  guard  on  the  football  team  who  made 
Tau  Beta  Pi  and  who  was  elected  president  of  his 
fraternity  and  who  really  was  president  after  he  was 
elected.  He  counseled  the  freshmen  like  a  father, 
and  they  adored  him.  He  was  a  veritable  D'Arta- 
gnan  in  leadership;  he  set  all  the  fellows  an  example 
ill  conduct  and  morality  and  scholarship  that  they 
never  forgot. 

On  account  of  his  popularity,  also,  there  is  no  man 
wlio  can  so  easily  be  elected  to  office  as  the  atldete. 
His  prestige  carries  him  through;  what  he  has  done 
to  win  athletic  prominence  for  the  college,  his  fol- 
lowers argue,  entitles  him  to  the  reward  of  the  office 
he  seeks,  and  forgetting  that  his  other  duties  are  al- 
ready a  tax  upon  his  time  and  his  strength,  he  yields 
to  his  ambition  and  to  the  insistence  of  his  friends. 
I  have  wished  over  and  over  again  that  he  might  have 
had  the  strength  to  decline  when  lie  was  urged,  for 
he  seldom  assumes  seriously  the  responsibilities  of  his 
office.     It  would  be  better  usuallv  for  all  concerned  if 


THE  ATHLETE  161 

he  would  be  satisfied  to  stay  in  his  own  field  and  trail 
along  in  second  place  when  it  comes  to  politics. 

The  successful  athlete  as  a  student  in  these  days 
has  much  to  commend  him.  Of  course  there  is  the 
man  who  is  in  college  primarily  for  athletics,  who  is 
satisfied  merely  to  pass,  who  has  no  intellectual  am- 
bitions, and  who  is  willing  by  any  unscrupulous 
methods  to  get  by.  He  cares  very  little  how  his  work 
is  done  just  so  he  passes.  Such  a  man,  however,  is 
not  now  common,  and  he  seldom  lasts  through  the 
college  course ;  somebody  gets  wise  to  his  methods  and 
he  passes  on.  One  such  man,  whose  work  was  in 
pretty  serious  condition,  wrote  me  not  long  ago.  He 
was  anxious  that  by  some  act  of  providence  or  the  fac- 
ulty he  might  be  made  eligible,  and  when  I  assured 
liim  that  this  was  impossible  he  replied,  "  Of  course 
there  would  be  no  use  of  my  returning  to  college  if  I 
could  not  take  part  in  athletics."  I  felt  the  same 
way  as  he  did  about  it,  and  suggested  that  he  go  to 
work.  It  is  not  of  this  sort  but  of  the  normal  man  in 
college  of  whom  I  am  speaking,  who  is  seriously  and 
honestly  preparing  himself  for  the  business  or  profes- 
sion of  life,  and  who  considers  athletics  a  secondary 
matter.  Tlie  student  who  would  be  an  athlete  learns 
first  of  all  that  if  he  would  keep  up  his  studies  and 
not  neglect  his  athletic  training  he  has  little  time  to 
waste;  if  he  would  succeed  he  must  learn  concentra- 
tion, he  mus(t  utilize  every  available  minute.  He 
learns  to  get  his  lessons  during  the  vacant  hours  of 
the  day;  he  knows  that  when  lie  comes  in  at  night 
from  practice  tired  and  sore,  that  he  can  not  afford  to 
loaf  mucli  after  dinner  or  to  let  his  mind  wander 
when  he  gets  at  his  books.     He  will  grow  sleepy  early 


162  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

in  tlio  evening  from  exhaustion,  and  if  he  is  to  be 
alert  and  fresh  the  next  day  he  must  get  to  bed  soon. 
All  this,  if  he  is  wise,  and  he  often  is,  teaches  him 
some  of  the  most  valuable  lessons  he  can  learn  in  col- 
lege—  the  value  of  concentration  and  the  value  of 
utilizing  his  spare  hours,  and  these  lessons  are  val- 
uable not  only  during  Jiis  undergraduate  days  but 
immeasurably  more  so  when  he  gets  out  of  college 
into  the  more  trying  and  strenuous  work  of  life. 

More  and  more  the  athlete  is  learning  the  value  of 
self-control  and  morality.  The  young  fellow  in 
training  learns  to  control  his  temy)er,  for  he  finds 
often  that  when  he  loses  control  of  liis  temper  he 
loses  control  of  himself.  Pie  learns,  too,  to  take  ad- 
verse criticism  without  being  offended  by  it,  for  he 
soon  sees  that  to  take  offense  gets  him  nowhere.  He 
learns  not  to  expect  praise  for  work  well  done,  but 
to  be  pleased  if  his  efforts  do  not  bring  upon  him  a 
storm  of  criticism  and  reproach.  The  hard  physical 
exercise  which  the  man  in  training  gets,  helj)s  him  in 
the  control  of  his  ])liysical  passions;  if  a  nuin  wants 
to  live  a  decent  clean  moral  life,  he  will  find  that  the 
strenuous  exercise  he  gets  in  the  development  of  ath- 
letic ability  will  help  him  toward  this  end  more  than 
almost  anything  else.  The  man,  on  the  other  hand, 
whoso  moral  ideals  might  not  be  otherwise  high,  is 
not  infrequently  led  to  see  that  he  must  choose  be- 
tween a  self-controlled,  temperate,  clean  life  and  fail- 
ure to  accomplish  his  higliest  possi])ilities  in  athletics. 
In  all  my  experience  with  undergraduates  I  have  seen 
few  things  tliat  would  act  more  vigorously  as  a  dis- 
courager of  immoral  practices  than  an  ambition  for 
success  in  athletics.      1  have  seen  over  and  over  again 


THE  ATHLETE  163 

the  loose  dissipated  habits  of  a  young  fellow  changed 
completely  because  he  developed  a  desire  for  athletic 
success  and  was  willing  to  learn  self -repression  and. 
self-control  in  order  to  attain  his  desire.  The  ath- 
lete, too,  who  might  have  a  tendency  to  break  training 
or  to  yield  to  the  temptation  to  immoral  practices  is 
frequently  held  somewhat  in  restraint  by  public  opin- 
ion as  expressed  by  the  undergraduate  crowd.  The 
athlete  who  would  risk  the  success  of  his  team  by 
indulging  in  dissipations  of  any  sort  would  soon  find 
himself,  in  most  college  communities,  pretty  thor- 
oughly in  disfavor.  Very  few  of  us  realize,  I  im- 
agine, just  what  part  this  fear  of  public  opinion  has 
played  in  our  own  individual  cases  in  keeping  us  in 
the  straight  moral  path ;  sometimes  when  we  should 
be  inclined  to  hold  that  it  was  our  staunch  principles 
which  lield  us  back,  it  was  quite  as  likely  the  fear  of 
what  the  neighbors  would  say  if  they  should  find  out 
our  irregularities.  We  say,  often,  that  we  don't  care 
what  people  think  of  us,  but  when  we  say  it  we  are 
joking. 

The  training  wbich  the  athlete  gets  is  not  advan- 
tageous merely  from  a  physical  standpoint;  I  have 
many  times  been  convinced  that  it  is  least  valuable 
from  such  a  standpoint,  because  the  college  athlete 
is  not  infrequently  overtrained,  and  when  he  gets  out 
of  college  and  relaxes  this  training  he  finds  himself 
in  a  critical  if  not  in  a  dangerous  condition.  The 
chief  advantage  that  aoerucs  from  athletic  training  is 
its  effect  upon  the  mairs  judgment  and  upon  his  char- 
acter. The  man  wanting  to  make  an  athletic  team  in 
;i  big  university  can  not  afl'ord  to  yield  easily  to  dis- 
couragement;  if  he  does  he  will  never  make  the  team. 


164  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

He  has  a  score  of  men  working  for  the  same  place, 
often,  many  of  them  more  experienced  and  better 
trained  than  himself.  Success  often  means  years  of 
persistent  practice  with  one  failure  after  anotlier. 
Other  things  being  equal,  it  is  the  man  who  sticks 
who  ultimately  succeeds. 

I  recall  a  slender  green  country  boy  who  came  up 
to  college  from  southern  Illinois.  He  had  the  am- 
bition to  do  the  pole  vault,  but  it  seemed  at  first 
little  more  than  an  ambition.  He  came  out  for  prac- 
tice every  day  during  his  freshman  year,  but  his  ac- 
complisliments  were  rather  commonplace.  "  Plucky 
little  sinner,"  the  coach  commented,  but  that  seemed 
about  as  far  as  it  went.  He  might  keep  on  the 
squad ;  that  was  about  all.  He  stuck  to  it  through 
the  sophomore  year,  gaining  form  and  making  grad- 
ual progress,  but  he  was  still  far  below  the  best  in  his 
attainments.  Most  fellows  would  have  dropped  out 
and  taken  a  place  among  the  rooters  on  the  side 
lines. 

"  I  really  believe  Gordon  is  improving,"  the  coach 
ventured  to  remark  during  the  boy's  junior  year  when 
he  was  still  sticking  to  his  regular  practice.  "  We 
may  hear  from  him  yet."  And  we  did ;  for  lie  took 
second  place  in  the  spring  meet  in  his  junior  year, 
and  when  he  was  a  senior  lie  won  first  place  in  the 
Western  Conference.  He  had  learned  what  it  means 
to  laugh  in  the  face  of  defeat  and  to  push  on  to  the 
accomplishment  of  an  ambition,  and  he  had  set  an  ex- 
ample of  persistence  and  grit  to  his  college  mates 
which  is  still  a  campus  tradition.  The  lesson  which 
he  had  learned  of  sticking  to  a  difficult  job  until  it  is 
accomplished,  no  matter  how  long  it  takes,  has  shown 


THE  ATHLETE  165 

itself  in  the  way  in  which  he  has  fought  difficulties 
since  he  left  college,  and  in  the  way  in  which  he  has 
climbed  steadily  to  success.  Whenever  a  boy  balks  at 
a  difficult  task  or  begins  to  lose  confidence  in  his  abil- 
ity to  make  good,  I  tell  him  of  Gordon. 

Dinwiddle  had  two  ambitions  when  he  came  to  col- 
lege ;  one  was  to  become  a  good  engineer  and  the 
other  was  to  make  the  baseball  team.  He  got  a  good 
room  overlooking  the  athletic  field  so  that  he  could 
get  the  inspiration  from  seeing  other  athletes  out 
practicing,  and  would  need  to  waste  little  time  in 
getting  into  the  game  wlien  his  turn  came.  He  had 
a  good  mind,  and  he  was  not  afraid  of  work,  so  that 
there  seemed  very  little  difficulty  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  first  ambition,  but  the  second  was  not  so 
easy  to  attain.  He  had  been  the  star  player  in  the 
little  country  town  from  which  he  came,  it  is  true, 
but  that  is  a  very  different  matter  from  playing  left 
field  on  the  varsity.  He  went  out  on  the  first  cut 
from  the  squad  in  his  freshman  year,  but  he  kept  on 
with  his  practice  with  his  class  team  and  with  his 
fraternity  nine.  He  hung  on  a  little  longer  in  his 
sophomore  year. 

"  Give  it  up,  kid,  and  try  croquet,"  some  of  his 
pessimistic  friends  suggested;  but  he  had  no  inten- 
tion of  giving  it  up ;  it  was  one  of  the  things  for 
which  he  had  come  to  college,  and  he  was  not  going 
to  be  turned  from  his  purpose.  During  his  junior 
year  he  was  kept  on  tlie  squad  during  the  season,  but 
he  got  no  active  participation  in  the  game;  all  his 
rivals  for  tlie  position  whicli  he  wanted  to  play 
seemed  just  a  trifle  better  than  he,  and  ho  sat  silently 
on  the  bench  all  season,  waiting  eagerly  to  be  called 


166  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

out.  All  this  time  he  studied  the  game,  he  listened 
to  the  suggestions  of  the  coach,  and  he  kept  up  his 
practice  religiously  throughout  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer. When  the  men  were  called  out  for  practice  in 
his  senior  year  he  seemed  to  have  got  his  batting  eye. 

"  You'll  make  it,  Mark,"  the  coach  told  him  en- 
couragingly, "  if  you  keep  up  that  gait,"  and  Mark 
did  make  it. 

Would  any  one  hold  that  this  persistence,  this  re- 
fusal to  accept  defeat,  this  willingness  to  work  and 
to  accept  criticism  through  one  season  and  another 
without  apparent  hope  of  success  did  not  have  its 
effects  upon  the  characters  of  these  men,  and  does 
not  have  its  effect  upon  all  men  who  submit  to  it? 

In  addition  to  this  refusal  to  accept  defeat  which 
becomes  a  part  of  the  character  of  a  real  athlete,  is 
the  training  in  judgment  and  quick  deci.^ion  which  a 
man  gets.  The  athlete  has  little  time  to  decide  on 
his  play  in  any  game.  He  must  gauge  a  ball,  or  de- 
termine upon  a  play  instantly  and  his  decision  must 
be  right  or  he  will  endanger  or  lose  the  game.  He 
can  not  stand  round  looking  for  a  bolo  in  the  line;  he 
must  be  through  it  the  instant  he  has  discovered  the 
weak  spot.  He  must  solve  bis  opponents'  play  al- 
most before  it  is  made  and  must  learn  at  the  same 
time  to  assist  his  fellow  players  in  tlie  work  which 
they  are  doing.  He  is  trained  in  accuracy,  in  alert- 
ness of  mind,  in  quick  decisions.  He  can  not  give  up 
when  he  is  tired,  he  can  not  fall  out  wlien  he  is  hurt, 
he  must  fight  the  game  through  to  a  finish  with  spirit 
and  enthusiasm.  Four  years  of  tliis  sort  of  training, 
I  am  convinced,  leaves  an  ineffaceable  stamp  upon 
a  young  fellow's  character  and  is  seen  in  his  business 


THE  ATHLETE  167 

methods  in  after  life.  It  was  a  very  significant  fact 
to  me  that  more  than  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  our 
athletes  who  weie  in  attendance  at  the  various  Eeserve 
Officers'  training  camps  of  the  country  in  preparation 
for  the  war,  recvived  commissions  at  the  close  of  the 
camps.  They  had  learned  to  follow  directions,  to 
obey,  and  to  fight. 

There  is  of  course  an  element  of  danger  in  most 
strenuous  athletic  games,  and  this  danger  is  often  the 
cause  of  a  great  deal  of  parental  opposition  to  a  boy's 
going  into  such  athletic  games,  but  there  is  danger  in 
almost  any  activity  that  is  worth  while.  A  friend  of 
mine  in  1917,  was  talking  with  a  young  fellow  who 
had  just  enlisted  in  the  army  and  was  preparing  to  go 
to  France. 

"  Doesn't  it  frighten  you  terribly,"  she  asked,  "  to 
think  of  the  danger  of  your  being  killed?" 

"  No,"  he  answered  thoughtfully,  "  there  are  so 
many  things  worse  than  being  killed." 

Even  though  there  may  be  danger  of  physical  in- 
jury in  most  of  the  strenuous  athletic  games  played 
in  college,  there  are  so  many  things  more  to  be  feared 
than  the  possibility  of  getting  hurt,  that  if  T  had  a 
son  I  should  be  quite  willing  that  he  should  take  that 
risk  in  order  -that  he  might  have  a  chance  at  the 
benefits  of  tlie  training  and  the  exercise.  The  parent 
who  wants  to  keep  his  son  out  of  football  or  basket 
ball  because  of  the  danger  which  he  will  encounter 
in  tliese  games  is  frequently  encouraging  him  to  be  a 
molly-coddle.  The  a^jility  to  face  danger  and  to  en- 
dure punishment  is  what  helps  to  make  men  out  of 
boys,  and  it  is  worth  risking  because  of  the  strength 
of  character  which  it  develops. 


168  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

It  is  hard  for  the  young  fellow  who  has  once  got 
the  athletic  fever  into  his  blood  to  get  it  out.  After 
a  hard  game  or  a  hard  season,  especially  one  followed 
by  defeat,  I  have  often  heard  an  athlete  vigorously 
affirm  that  he  was  through  with  the  whole  business. 
There  was  nothing  to  it,  he  avowed,  and  when  he  laid 
aside  his  athletic  togs,  he  swore  he  would  never  put 
them  on  again.  Perhaps  the  next  season  he  was 
tardy  in  coming  out  at  first,  but  he  could  not  stay  out 
of  the  game  long.  Neither  danger,  nor  pain,  nor 
exhaustion,  nor  possible  defeat  daunted  him.  The 
game  had  got  into  his  blood  and  he  had  to  take  it  up, 

I  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  "  Cap "  the  night 
after  we  had  been  defeated  by  Chicago.  He  had 
played  a  masterly,  though  a  losing  game,  and  had 
come  away  bearing  on  his  body  the  scars  of  battle. 
I  called  at  his  house  after  dinner  to  offer  him  my  con- 
gratulations on  the  game  he  had  put  up  and  my  con- 
dolences on  the  unsatisfactory  outcome.  He  was  a 
sad  looking  figure.  His  nose  had  been  broken  and 
some  one  had  kicked  him  in  the  eye,  which  was  dis- 
colored and  swollen  shut.  His  whole  body  was 
bruised  and  sore  and  he  was  in  a  furious  temper. 

"  This  is  my  last  appearance,  pos-i-tlv-ly,"  he 
growled.  "  There's  nothing  in  it.  A  man's  a  fool  to 
let  himself  be  mangled  up  the  way  I  am,  I'm  out  of 
it.  Never  again  for  me.  If  I  ever  have  a  son  who 
wants  to  play  football  I'll  lock  him  up  or  strangle 
him.     It's  me  in  the  future  for  the  peaceful  life." 

I  said  nothing,  for  I  knew  the  outcome.  He  was 
in  the  next  game  as  chipper  as  ever,  and  the -next  fall 
he  was  the  first  man  out  on  the  field,  when  it  came 
time  for  practice.     He  could  not  keep  away  from  it 


THE  ATHLETE  169 

any  more  than  the  average  man  can  who  has  got  the 
spirit  of  it  into  his  system.  WTien  the  call  to  arms 
came  "  Cap  "  was  one  of  the  first  men  to  leave  the 
peaceful  life  that  he  had  so  vigorously  espoused,  to 
face  the  hardships  and  the  dangers  of  war. 

In  spite  of  my  respect  for  the  athlete  and  for  ath- 
letic training,  T  have  always  felt  that  as  far  as  an 
advertising  asset  is  concerned  the  athlete  has  been 
very  much  overrated.  Few  students  in  these  days  go 
to  college  mainly  because  of  their  interest  in  athletics 
or  in  going  to  college  choose  an  institution  mainly 
because  of  the  reputation  of  its  athletic  teams.  If 
the  boy  himself  who  is  entering  college  had  the  entire 
decision  in  his  own  hands  the  matter  might  be  differ- 
ent, but  since,  even  in  the  United  States,  father  and 
mother  still  have  a  little  to  say  in  determining  the 
place  where  son  shall  pursue  his  education,  the  char- 
acter of  the  athletic  teams  of  the  institution  under 
consideration  usually  plays  a  minor  part.  It  cannot 
be  left  wholly  out  of  consideration,  but  it  is  seldom 
the  determining  factor  in  the  decision. 

"  A  winning  team  is  a  fine  advertisement  for  the 
school,"  the  undergraduate  constantly  holds,  and  I 
am  willing  for  the  sake  of  argument  to  grant  that  it 
does  its  part,  but  I  am  equally  sure  that  if  it  were 
the  sort  of  advertisement  that  could  be  "  keyed,"  if 
we  could  get  from  our  undergraduates  a  frank,  truth- 
ful statement  as  to  the  influence  which,  in  each  in- 
dividual case,  induced  them  to  select  the  college  of 
their  choice,  it  would  be  found  that  successful  athletic 
teams  are  in  reality  rather  ineffective  in  adding  to 
tlie  attendance  of  any  institution.  That  fact,  how- 
ever, does  not  in  any  way  lessen  my  interest  in  the 


170  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

athlete  and  athletics,  nor  make  me  think  any  the  less 
that  the  college  that  puts  money  generously  into  the 
training  and  development  of  its  athletic  teams  and 
that  encourages  physical  exercise  generally  among  its 
students  is  acting  wisely. 

As  I  have  studied  the  careers  of  our  athletic  stu- 
dents after  they  have  graduated  and  gone  out  of  col- 
lege I  have  been  convinced  that  the  benefits  of  ath- 
letic training  do  not  end  at  graduation.  It  is  true 
that  the  man  who  wishes  to  make  a  case  against  the 
athlete  can  present  illustrations  to  show  that  even 
though  the  men  engaged  in  athletics  may  average  well 
there  are  still  some  very  notorious  dullards  who  make 
or  try  to  make  our  athletic  teams.  The  athlete  who 
flunks  is  like  the  Sunday-school  superintendent  who 
becomes  an  embezzler.  His  intellectual  or  moral 
failure,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  the  more  widely  adver- 
tised and  commented  upon  because  of  his  other  rela- 
tionships. The  ordinary  student  in  college  may  fail 
and  nothing  be  said  of  it;  wlien  the  athlete  fails  the 
fact  is  commented  upon  at  every  fraternity  and 
boarding  house,  is  often  the  subject  of  serious  faculty 
discussion,  and  is  made  the  topic  for  an  associated 
press  disj)citcli  in  the  newspapers.  The  flunking  ath- 
lete is  like  a  drunken  man  in  a  crowd  —  he  seems  far 
more  numerous  and  attracts  far  more  attention  than 
the  quiet  sober  citizen  who  goes  unobtrusively  about 
his  business.  For  this  reason  his  occasional  lack  of 
scholarship  is  much  exaggerated  and  disproportion- 
ately commented  upon.  It  has  been  my  experience 
in  executive  affairs  in  college  that  it  is  easier  for 
almost  any  other  man  to  receive  special  consideration 
or  special  concessions  when  in  scholastic  difficulties 


THE  ATHLETE  171 

than  for  the  athlete.  Whenever  it  is  announced  that 
the  man  who  is  asking  for  mercy  or  for  reconsidera- 
tion is  an  atlilete  there  is  very  likely  to  be  the  stiffen- 
ing of  the  jaw  and  the  bending  backward  of  the 
authorities,  in  order  that  there  may  be  no  thought  on 
the  part  of  any  one  that  they  are  not  walking  and 
acting  in  accordance  with  the  rule.  Perhaps  it  is 
just  as  well  so. 

The  college  athlete  who  has  gone  out  into  the  more 
active  duties  of  life  is  a  fighter;  in  college  he  has 
been  trained  to  fight  against  difficulties,  and  he  car- 
ries with  him  the  results  of  this  training.  He  is  not 
afraid  to  tackle  a  hard  proposition,  he  is  not  easily 
discouraged,  his  judgments  are  more  rapid  and  more 
accurate  than  those  of  other  men,  and  he  is  willing 
even  in  an  apparently  losing  game  to  make  a  try  — 
to  stick.  His  athletic  training  has  taught  him  en- 
durance and  has  given  him  a  physique  which  will 
stand  hardships,  and  nervous  strain,  and  long  hours 
of  work.  He  has  usually  learned,  also,  how  to  take 
care  of  his  body,  and  so  how  to  make  the  most  of  the 
physical  and  mental  resources  at  his  command.  For 
these  reasons  his  chances  of  success  in  any  work  which 
he  takes  up  are  greater  than  those  of  the  man  not  so 
trained,  and  that  success  is  quite  generally  somewhat 
in  advance  of  what  might  be  expected  from  a  study  of 
his  scholastic  record.  The  effect  which  his  athletic 
training  has  had  upon  his  body,  and  the  effect  which 
athletic  practice  has  had  upon  his  character  and  his 
mind,  all  conduce  to  liis  energy,  his  resourcefulness, 
and  his  self-reliance  and  so  make  for  his  success.  Ho 
is  likely  to  get  on  faster  and  to  go  farther  than  avi' 
men  of  similar  ability  who  have  not  had  his  training. 


172  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

The  struggles  and  sacrifices  which  he  made  in  his 
undergraduate  years  are  more  tlian  compensated  for 
by  the  returns  which  come  to  him  in  later  life. 

I  have  read  the  most  that  has  been  published  in  re- 
cent years  concerning  the  evils  of  inter-collegiate 
athletics  —  the  extravagantly  large  amount  of  money 
necessary  to  support  such  a  system,  the  confining  of 
athletic  training  to  a  very  limited  number  of  stu- 
dents, the  gambling,  drinking,  and  other  moral  dissi- 
pations incident  to  big  games,  but  though  I  have 
known  personally  as  many  undergraduate  students, 
athletes  and  otherwise,  as  any  college  officer  in  Amer- 
ica, I  am  convinced  that  these  evils  have  been  very 
much  exaggerated.  I  cannot  deny  that  intercol- 
legiate athletics  is  expensive,  and  it  would  be  foolish 
to  maintain  for  a  moment  that  it  is  not  accompanied 
by  abuses  and  evils — I  can  think  of  no  other  activ- 
ity, not  even  religious  activities,  that  is  free  from 
them  —  but  in  my  experience  as  a  director  and  super- 
visor of  undergraduate  activities  it  has  seemed  to  me 
that  nothing  else  has  done  so  much  as  athletics  to 
develop  real  college  loyalty,  to  unify  a  heterogeneous 
undergraduate  l)ody,  and  by  giving  an  outlet  for 
youthful  enthusiasm  and  youthful  spirits,  to  aid  in 
the  maintenance  of  healthy  college  discipline.  It  is 
true  that  athletic  contests  have  at  times  been  the  op- 
portunity for  undergraduate  outbreaks  and  disturb- 
ances, but  tliese  occasions  have  on  the  whole  been  rare 
and  not  infrequently  a  case  of  "  great  cry  and  little 
wool,"  of  wide  newspaper  publicity  and  relatively 
little  foundation  for  the  facts  alleged.  I  am  sure 
that  if  it  were  not  for  the  athletic  contests  and  the 


THE  ATHLETE  173 

athlete  I  should  as  a  disciplinary  officer  have  a  much 
harder  time  than  I  now  have. 

There  is  the  argument  that  tlie  athlete  supports  a 
sort  of  physical  aristocracy  which  maintains  a  monop- 
oly over  athletics  and  physical  exercise  and  makes  it 
possible  for  the  physically  elect  only  to  obtain  the 
exercise  that  all  need.  We  should  develop  a  system, 
the  promulgators  of  this  argument  say,  which  would 
force  every  one  into  athletic  sports  and  secure  regular 
and  pleasant  exercise  daily  for  every  one  in  college 
from  tlie  freshman  to  the  President.  Such  a  physical 
millennium  sounds  alluring,  and  the  theory  is  beau- 
tiful, but  the  result  is  about  as  likely  of  attainment 
as  those  implied  in  the  theories  of  our  socialist 
friends;  they  sound  attractive  on  paper,  but  they  are 
impossible  of  realization.  In  every  college  with 
which  I  am  familiar  there  is  a  predominating  per- 
centage of  students  and  faculty  who,  unless  a  chain 
were  put. about  their  necks  and  they  were  dragged  to 
the  fray  would  take  no  part  in  athletic  sports  at  all. 
There  are  even  more  than  we  might  suppose  who  take 
no  pleasure  in  exercise  themselves  and  who  find  no 
relaxation  in  watching  other  people  engaged  in 
sports.  Whatever  can  be  done  to  interest  students 
and  faculty  in  sports  generally,  I  believe  is  a  desir- 
able thing,  but  such  interest  is  not  decreased  by  the 
development  of  athletic  teams.  As  I  have  seen  the 
athlete  his  training  is  worth  all  that  it  costs  —  to 
him,  to  the  college  autliorities,  and  to  the  undergrad- 
uate body  as  a  whole,  in  the  development  of  character, 
in  discipline,  in  college  loyalty,  and  in  the  binding 
together  of  the  students  as  a  whole. 


THE  LOAFER 

I  CAUGHT  sight  of  Jack  and  Eddie  and  Mac  sitting 
in  the  Arcade  as  I  passed  this  morning  on  my  way 
down  town.  They  had  evidently  got  up  too  late  for 
breakfast  and  were  "  hitting  a  coke "  before  they 
subjected  themselves  to  the  strain  of  a  ten  o'clock. 
The  last  bell  had  rung,  but  they  were  taking  their 
time  and  giving  Eddie  opportunity  to  finish  the 
risque  tale  of  his  last  conquest.  Mac  had  already 
been  out  of  classes  tliis  semester  for  five  weeks  because 
of  a  slight  illness,  but  that  seemed  to  him  an  asset 
rather  than  a  liability,  for  the  instructor  knowing  he 
had  been  ill,  could  not  reasonably  expect  him  to  get 
into  the  work  vigorously  all  at  once  or  to  come  to 
classes  regularly  or  on  time.  Jack  had  been  out  to 
a  dance  the  night  before,  and  not  being  prepared  had 
cut  his  nine  o'clock,  and  Eddie  was  taking  the  cuts 
which  as  a  senior  he  thought  himself  entitled  to. 
They  were  good  illustrations,  tliese  three  happy-go- 
lucky  souls,  of  the  college  loafer  —  irregular,  irre- 
sponsible, unambitious  —  the  type  of  men  who  are 
the  real  menace  to-day  of  undergraduate  life  in  col- 
lege. 

It  takes  a  man  of  some  energy  to  be  a  real  devil, 
so  that  the  loafer  at  first  seldom  gets  into  anything 
that  is  difficult,  or  dangerous,  or  not  nice ;  he  doesn't 
initiate  tilings;  some  one  else  makes  the  plan,  thougli 
he  may  trail  along  behind  in  an  escapade  and  seem  to 
be  a  real  part  of  the  procession.  He  is  a  passive, 
174 


THE  LOAFER  175 

talkative  being ;  he  lov^s  ease,  leisure,  sleep,  coca  cola, 
cigarettes,  chocolate  bostons,  and  girls.  He  is  a 
stroller,  a  hanger  on.  If,  as  I  am  writing  these  para- 
graphs, 1  should  look  out  of  my  window  upon  the 
broad  green  expanse  of  our  back  campus,  I  should 
catch  sight  of  him  walking  lazily  under  the  shade  of 
the  tall  elm  trees  of  Burrill  Avenue,  or  sprawled  upon 
the  grass,  a  girl  by  his  side,  a  smile  on  his  face,  his 
books  and  his  intellectual  obligations  forgotten.  He 
knows  the  last  dance  step,  the  latest  gossip,  and  he 
has  seen  the  last  bills  at  the  Orpheum.  He  would  be 
entirely  innocuous  if  he  were  not  allowed  to  run  at 
large.     The  trouble  is  he  infects  the  crowd. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  environment 
which  conduces  to  the  development  of  this  type  of 
student.  At  home  he  has  neither  been  given  nor  has 
he  assumed  any  responsibility.  He  has  had  no  duties, 
no  regular  set  tasks ;  he  has  done  no  work ;  often  he 
has  been  mother's  darling.  It  has  usually,  at  home, 
been  a  problem  as  to  what  should  be  done  with  him 
in  the  summer  vacation  when  there  was  no  school, 
so  he  loafed  around  lazy  and  discontented.  He  has 
seldom  done  well  in  his  preparatory  school  or  high 
school;  he  has  passed,  but  neither  he  nor  his  parents 
have  had  any  ambitions  for  him  to  be  a  grind  or  the 
valedictorian  of  his  class.  If  his  mother  were  asked 
she  would  probably  say,  "  We  are  very  well  satisfied 
with  what  Clarence  has  done  in  high  school;  he  is 
not  a  natural  student,  and  has  never  been  very  strong, 
so  that  we  have  never  pushed  him  nor  wanted  him  to 
over-study."  And  Clarence  has  done  as  his  parents 
desired  and  has  never  overstudied. 

He  comes  naturally  to  speak  of  himself  as  "  no 


176  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

student "  and  to  take  a  certain  pride  in  the  fact  that 
this  characteristic  in  some  way  differentiates  him 
from  the  common  herd  of  undergraduates  who  do 
their  work  because  they  like  it,  or  who  go  at  things 
with  energy  because  it  is  their  duty.  He  takes  his 
commonplace  work  as  a  matter  of  course,  just  as  many 
people  assume  without  trying  that  they  can  not  leam 
to  spell. 

"  You  had  a  shamefully  low  average  last  semester," 
I  remarked  to  Brinkerhoff  the  other  day,  "  for  a  man 
of  your  training  and  ability." 

"  Well,  I'm  no  student,"  was  his  self-satisfied  reply, 
which  was  only  another  way  of  saying,  "  I'm  a  hope- 
less loafer,  and  you  ought  to  be  satisfied  that  I  got 
through  as  well  as  I  did."  There  was  no  shame  on 
his  part,  no  resolve  to  do  better,  simply  a  resignation 
to  the  inevitable. 

The  loafer  in  college  is  not  always  a  boy  who  has 
been  brought  up  in  luxury ;  he  not  infrequently  comes 
from  very  humble  surroundings;  but  wherever  he  has 
been  brought  up  he  has  never  developed  any  love  for 
work.  When  he  enters  college  it  is  without  ambition, 
without  any  definite  purpose  or  object;  he  has  little 
idea  of  what  he  wants  to  do,  no  love  of  books,  no 
interest  in  study,  no  vision  of  the  future.  He  does 
not  know  whether  lie  wants  to  go  north  or  south, 
whether  he  would  like  to  study  art  or  ceramic  engi- 
neering, whether  he  would  prefer  to  spend  his  life  as 
a  missionary  or  as  a  vaudeville  star.  Some  of  the 
other  fellows  were  coming  to  colloge,  so  he  tlirew  a 
few  changes  of  clothing  into  a  suitcase  and  came 
along,  Just  as  lie  might  have  joined  a  camping  party 
or  taken  a  hike  into  the  countrv.     Some  of  the  most 


THE  LOAFER  177 

confirmed  loafers  I  have  known  have  been  men  who 
had  to  work  for  a  part  of  their  living.  Loafing  in 
college  is  not,  as  many  people  think,  a  matter  of 
money,  but  of  temperament. 

Ye^rday  a  father  came  into  my  oflBce  to  discuss 
with  me  the  possibility  of  his  son's  entering  college. 

"What  course  does  he  want  to  take?"  I  asked  in 
order  more  intelligently  to  answer  his  question. 

"  I  don't  know,"  was  the  reply.  "  We  have  not 
thought  much  about  that.  I  don't  believe  George 
has  decided  on  anything  yet." 

"  ^^^lat  is  he  interested  in  ?  What  sort  of  work  or 
study  does  he  like  best  ?  "  I  continued,  trying  to  get 
myself  square  with  the  intellectual  compass. 

"  He  has  never  shown  any  special  interest  in  any- 
thing yet.  We  hoped  that  after  he  got  to  college  he 
would  develop  interest  in  some  line  of  work." 

"Is  he  in  love?"  I  ventured,  determined  to  get 
somewhere  if  possible. 

"  Well,  he  certainly  does  like  the  girls." 

It  is  this  sort,  interested  in  nothing  but  his  senses 
and  his  emotions,  that  develops  into  the  loafer.  A 
boy  will  seldom  show  more  ambition  in  college  than 
he  has  shown  at  home ;  if  he  has  had  no  vision  or  pur- 
pose there,  he  will  be  unlikely  to  find  one  in  college. 
We  do  not  change  our  characters  by  changing  our 
lodging  house,  and  if  wc  have  disliked  work  in  Chi- 
cago we  shall  hardly  take  to  it  in  Champaign. 

"  You  haven't  done  much  for  Babb  in  college,"  a 
fellow  townsman  of  his  said  to  me  when  I  was  on  a 
visit  to  the  country  town  from  wliich  the  freshman 
referred  to  came.  "  He's  as  lazy  and  worthless  as 
ever." 


178  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

"  If  you  have  had  him  here  for  nineteen  years  and 
have  done  nothing  for  him,  how  can  you  expect  us  to 
reorganize  him  in  six  months  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  I  thought  you  were  able  to  do  everything  in  col- 
lege," he  replied.     But  we  are  not. 

I  have  found  the  greatest  interest  as  an  executive 
officer  in  college  in  getting  the  peculiar  viewpoint  of 
the  loafer.  When  1  call  him  for  irregularity,  and  if 
I  am  shrewd  enough  to  prove  to  him  that  these  ex- 
cuses which  he  has  offered  were  not  thought  sufficient 
on  his  part  to  keep  him  from  certain  social  pleasures 
in  which  I  have  seen  him  indulging,  he  leans  upon 
the  prop  of  all  loafers  and  asserts  that  the  rules  of  the 
college  permit  a  certain  number  of  cuts  to  all  stu- 
dents, and  he  has  not  yet  exceeded  his  limit.  "  Any- 
way," he  goes  on,  "  a  fellow  can't  go  to  class  all  the 
time."  One  of  the  most  common  excuses  of  the 
loafer  for  not  attending  class  is  that  of  not  being 
wakened  in  time  by  the  proper  person.  I  have  a  let- 
ter now  on  my  desk  from  a  young  fellow  dropped 
from  college  for  poor  work  who  says :  "  A  good  deal 
of  my  trouble  was  due  to  the  ineffective  waking  sys- 
tem in  our  house,"  meaning  that  the  freshman  whose 
duty  it  was  to  come  around  and  wake  him  up,  some- 
times went  to  sleep  at  the  switch.  The  next  most 
popular  excuse  for  absence  is  that  he  was  busy  study- 
ing for  another  course  than  the  one  he  cut.  It  never 
seems  to  occur  to  him  that  there  are  regular  hours  of 
study  far  more  tlian  adequate  for  the  purposes  of 
even  the  good  student,  and  that  it  is  seldom  if  ever 
necessary  to  cut  class  in  order  to  study.  Cutting 
class  with  him  is  a  habit  as  regular  and  as  persistent 
as  smoking,  for  every  loafer  smokes. 


THE  LOAFER  179 

He  either  smokes  because  he  puts  in  so  much  time 
loafing  that  he  needs  some  recreation  to  keep  him 
from  getting  lonesome,  or  he  loafs  because  he  has 
smoked  so  much  that  it  has  robbed  him  of  the  energy 
sufficient  to  do  anything  else.  The  odor  of  the 
Fatimas  which  he  has  burned  up  floats  across  the 
desk  to  me  as  he  comes  in  to  ask  me  for  an  excuse 
because  of  illness;  before  he  steps  off  the  campus  he 
has  lighted  another  to  stimulate  his  waning  interest 
in  life,  and  wherever  you  meet  him, —  between  dances, 
at  his  room,  on  the  street, —  he  is  drawing  strength 
and  comfort  from  a  pipe  or  a  cigarette.  It  is  the 
badge  of  his  fraternity. 

"  Why  do  you  smoke  so  much  ?  "  I  asked  Eheims, 
whose  restless  manner  and  putty  colored  complexion 
and  yellow  finger  nails  told  the  story  of  his  devotion 
to  Xicotine.     "  You  know  it  hurts  you." 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  it  does ;  but  why  do  you  want  to 
rob  a  man  of  all  pleasure  ?  "  That  was  too  much  for 
me. 

It  is  hard  for  the  loafer  to  study  :  there  are  so  many 
easier,  subtler,  cleverer  ways  to  get  by.  He  means 
to  do  it  —  to-morrow,  Sunday,  next  week,  before  the 
end  of  the  semester, —  but  he  is  such  an  awfully  pop- 
ular fellow,  he  has  so  many  friends  to  entertain,  so 
many  dates  to  keep,  so  many  extra-curriculum  duties 
to  perform,  that  he  lias  little  or  no  time  to  give  to 
study.  He  borrows  your  notes  which  he  has  been  too 
lazy  or  too  busy  to  take  himself,  and  never  returns 
them  until  you  go  to  his  room  and  hunt  him  up;  lie 
(juestions  you  about  your  outside  reading  and  tries  to 
got  the  gist  of  its  content  so  that  lie  may  be  spared 
tlie  labor  of  doing  it  for  himself,  he  sits  by  you  dur- 


180  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

ing  the  quiz  hours  and  stealthily  cribs  your  ideas 
which  he  rephrases  so  that  they  seem  his  own. 
More's  the  pity,  sometimes  he  does  it  so  well  that  he 
gets  a  better  grade  tlian  you  do  who  have  gone 
through  the  assigned  reading  with  puritanic  con- 
scientiousness. 

The  loafer  is  usually  a  very  charming  fellow;  he  is 
selfish,  but  diplomatic  and  well-mannered.  "  How 
does  it  happen,"  I  asked  one  of  the  clan  not  long  ago, 
"  that  you  do  so  little  work  about  the  fraternity  house 
while  Moore  is  always  at  it?  " 

"  Moore  has  no  diplomacy/'  was  the  reply.  "  I 
saw  at  the  start  that  if  I  didn't  talk  back  and  was 
always  polite  and  courteous  to  the  fellows,  they  sel- 
dom 'fagged'  me;  Moore  is  impudent,  and  he  has  to 
do  all  the  work  while  the  fellows  sit  around  and  are 
amused  at  my  line  of  talk." 

He  loves  to  talk,  and  he  generally  talks  well  and 
knows  it.  He  is  usually  popular  in  any  crowd,  for  he 
has  never  brought  on  brain  fag  througli  overwork  or 
overstudy.  He  can  be  found  at  every  fraternity 
house  sitting  before  the  grate  fire  spinning  his  yams 
to  any  hour  of  the  night.  He  dislikes  going  to  bed 
even  more  than  he  dislikes  getting  up  in  the  morning, 
and  will  never  think  of  going  so  long  as  he  can  get 
some  one  to  keep  him  company.  Xot  infrequently  he 
has  in  him  some  toucli  of  the  genius.  He  has  talent 
without  motive  j)ower.  As  1  write  this  sentence  my 
mind  drifts  back  to  Jim  Watson.  "  Why  don't  you 
stir  up  Jim?  "  I  asked  the  president  of  his  fraternity 
one  day,  "  he  might  amount  to  something  if  he  would 
work." 


THE  LOAFER  181 

"  Oh,  Jim,"  was  his  reply,  "  Jim's  an  awfully  good 
fellow;  he's  charming;  no  one  could  say  anything 
cross  to  Jim.  He's  an  artist ;  he's  a  poet ;  he's  a 
dreamer;  he  could  do  anything  if  he  would." 

He  was  correct  in  his  diagnosis;  I  simply  phrased 
it  a  little  differently ;  Jim  was  the  most  delightfully 
artistic  loafer  in  college.  He  was  the  sort  of  fellow 
of  whom  people  were  always  saying  that  he  would  be 
a  great  man  if  he  ever  got  down  to  work;  but  he 
never  did,  ajid  he's  the  most  commonplace  citizen 
to-day  of  the  country  town  in  which  he  lives. 

Some  people  argue  that  college  is  a  good  place  for 
the  loafer  even  if  he  will  not  do  his  college  work  with 
credit.  He  learns  to  know  people,  he  picks  up  a 
smattering  of  useful  information  through  his  daily 
rubbing  up  against  those  who  do  study,  and  whether 
he  puts  forth  much  effort  of  his  own  or  not  he  comes 
constantly  into  contact  with  people  of  culture  and  ex- 
perience and  refinement.  He  is  of  no  great  harm  to 
the  college,  they  say,  and  the  college  may  be  of  untold 
benefit  to  him.     Perliaps  so. 

I  remember  a  number  of  years  ago  we  had  in  the 
University  —  I  had  him  in  fact  in  some  of  my  own 
classes  —  a  big  lazy  loafer  who  so  far  as  any  of  his 
instructors  could  discover  never  "  cracked  "  a  book. 
He  had  one  virtue;  he  never  cut  a  recitation  even 
though  he  never  recited,  and  he  was  also  an  impen- 
etrable wall  in  football.  One  day  the  president  of 
the  institution,  who  at  that  time  had  general  charge 
of  all  delinquents  whether  in  soholar.ship  or  in  other 
things,  was  looking  over  Mr.  Hicks'  scholastic  record, 
which  was  no  credit  to  any  one. 


182  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

"  We  can  never  keep  this  man,"  lie  said  to  the  ath- 
letic director,  "■  even  though  he  can  play  football.  I 
shall  have  to  send  him  home." 

"  Perhaps  you  are  right,"  said  the  director,  "  but  if 
you  do  you  will  shut  him  off  from  any  further  chance 
of  intellectual  improvement.  He's  an  exemplary 
loafer  who  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  is  associating 
with  people  of  cultivation  and  of  ideals.  The  Uni- 
versity is  doing  him  more  good  than  he  is  doing  it 
harm,  it  is  helping  to  make  him  a  man,  and  so  far  as 
I  can  see  he  ought  to  be  allowed  to  stay  a  little 
longer."  ^^Tiether  the  argument  was  a  specious  one 
or  not,  the  president  consented,  and  the  man  stayed 
on  and  played  on.  He  is  a  respected  successful  city 
banker  to-day, —  he  had  money  —  so  that  perhaps  in 
this  case  at  least  the  athletic  director  was  right. 

I  have  myself  often  been  the  victim  of  the  charms 
of  these  fascinating  loafers.  In  their  own  houses, 
and  in  mine,  I  have  been  forced  often  to  yield  to  the 
magic  of  their  personality.  They  are  good  fellows, 
many  of  them;  they  have  within  them  infinite  pos- 
sibilities, unlimited  power,  if  they  would  only  work. 

A  good  deal  has  been  said  and  written  about  tho 
dissipations  and  immoralities  of  college  life,  and 
much  that  has  been  written  is  false.  I  have  been  as- 
sociated with  college  -students  more  than  half  of  my 
life,  and  I  have  known  thousands  of  them  personally. 
The  undergraduate  is  not  free  from  the  temptations 
and  the  evils  which  other  men  yield  io.  There  are 
men  in  college  who  drink,  there  are  men  who  gamble, 
and  there  are  men  whose  lives  are  not  clean,  as  there 
are  in  every  community,  but  the  sum  total  of  these 


THE  LOAFER  183 

and  the  evil  which  they  perpetrate  is  far  outweighed 
by  the  loafer  in  college  and  the  vicious  influences  of 
which  he  is  the  source.  It  is  almost  without  excep- 
tion the  man  who  has  nothing  to  do  or  who  having 
something  which  he  ought  to  do  yet  does  not  do  it, 
who  is  responsible  for  the  sins  and  dissipations  of  col- 
lege life.  It  is  loafing  and  lack  of  a  really  worthy 
ambition  to  give  a  man  balance  that  leads  students 
into  all  the  other  sins  and  indiscretions  of  undergrad- 
uate life.  There  is  no  other  evil  in  college  to  com- 
pare with  it,  and  none  so  difficult  of  remedy  or  of  cor- 
rection. 

"  I  am  coming  back  to  college,"  one  of  them  wrote 
me  this  week,  "  and  I  know  you  will  be  surprised 
to  hear  that  I  do  not  expect  to  give  you  any  more 
trouble." 

"  If  you  are  intending  to  go  to  class  regularly,  to 
study  faithfully,  and  to  do  your  work  like  a  man/' 
was  my  reply,  "  I  shall  welcome  you  with  open  arms ; 
if  you  are  going  to  loaf  as  you  have  done  in  the  past, 
I  wish  to  the  Lord  you  would  stay  where  you  are." 

It  is  hard  for  the  loafer  to  reform.  Sometimes  he 
can  do  it  in  a  new  environment  and  under  generally 
new  conditions,  but  the  man  who  has  wasted  his  time 
in  college  and  who  stays  out  a  semester  or  a  year  with 
the  hope  that  he  will  gain  ambition  and  self-control 
is  often  disappointed  or  disappoints  his  friends  who 
may  have  placed  faith  in  him.  As  soon  as  he  strikes 
the  old  crowd  and  the  old  campus  the  spell  is  on  him 
again ;  he  is  like  the  reformed  toper  who  catches  the 
odor  of  the  highball.  Last  spring  a  young  fellow 
who  had  been  out  of  college  a  year  returned  to  try 


184  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

to  finish  his  work.  He  liad  previously  been  a  con- 
firmed loafer  who  had  by  strategy  and  luck  barely 
escaped  dismissal. 

"  I'm  sorry  you  have  come  back,  Baker,"  I  said  to 
him.  "  I've  expended  about  as  much  physical  and 
mental  energy  on  you  as  I  think  you  are  entitled  to. 
I  should  not  care  to  give  you  a  permit  to  reenter  un- 
less I  can  have  some  assurance  that  you  are  coming 
back  with  a  definite  purpose  to  do  your  work  faith- 
fully and  well."  He  gave  me  the  assurance,  but 
there  was  no  real  enthusiasm  in  what  he  did.  He  cut 
class  and  fooled  away  his  time  trying,  of  course,  to 
keep  safely  within  the  limit  that  would  bring  him 
passing  grades,  but  he  was  the  same  old  loafer  as 
before. 

"  I  am  hurting  no  one  but  myself,"  is  the  favorite 
excuse  of  every  young  fellow  who  by  irregular  habits 
is  injuring  his  mind  or  liis  body,  but  the  loafer  can 
truthfully  make  no  such  assertion.  Xo  young  fellow 
loafs  long  alone;  he  spends  little  of  his  time  reading 
even  trashy  or  vicious  books ;  lie  is  not  given  to  soli- 
tude or  meditation.  He  must  gather  friends  about 
him  and  they  go  out  together.  There  never  was  a 
loafer  in  college  who  did  not  ruin  some  one  else  in 
order  that  he  might  have  a  pal  to  accompany  him  on 
his  daily  orgies  of  pool  and  billiards  and  poker,  and 
soft  drinks  and  fussing  and  vaudeville  and  the  movies 
and  local  gossip,  or  wliatever  it  is  with  which  he 
whiles  away  his  hours. 

"  You  don't  need  to  be  afraid  of  my  leading  any 
one  astray,"  a  young  fellow  not  in  college  said  to  me 
when  asking  my  permission  to  live  in  one  of  the  fra- 
ternity houses. 


THE  LOAFER  185 

"  Have  you  a  regular  job  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Yes,  in  the  daytime,"  said  he. 

"  What  do  you  do  at  night ?"  I  went  on. 

"  Xothing,"  he  confessed. 

"  Then  you  are  a  bad  man  to  live  in  a  house  where 
students  are  supposed  to  study  at  night,  for  nobody 
does  nothing  alone." 

I  said  at  the  outset  that  the  loafer  very  seldom 
initiates  things,  and  this  is  true,  but  he  falls  easily 
into  disreputable  habits.  The  student  who  does  not 
spend  his  time  in  study,  is  not  at  all  likely  to  be 
spending  it  in  making  his  own  character  or  that  of 
the  world  better.  Most  of  the  men  who  have  failed 
or  gone  to  the  bad  in  college  have  done  so  becau.^e 
they  had  learned  to  loaf.  There  are  few  things  so 
good  for  the  developing  and  strengthening  of  charac- 
ter as  work.  If  one  has  duties  to  occupy  the  major 
part  of  his  waking  hours,  he  is  pretty  safe. 

The  loafer  is  a  far  greater  foe  to  scholarship  than 
is  the  man  of  what  we  ordinarily  speak  of  as  dis- 
tinctly bad  habits.  Even  if  he  does  his  work,  and 
very  frequently  he  is  lucky  or  clever  enough  to  pass, 
he  has  no  desire  to  do  well. 

"  A  pass  is  as  good  as  one  hundred  to  me,"  I  hear 
him  say  repeatedly,  and  he  preaches  the  foolish  doc- 
trine so  assiduously  tliat  many  innocent  and  inexperi- 
enced freshmen  believe  him.  I  said  foolish  doctrine, 
for  not  many  practices  have  succeeded  in  getting 
more  men  out  of  college  than  this  one  of  calculatin'J- 
how  near  one  can  come  to  failing  and  yet  pass. 

"  I  don't  think  I  should  have  been  dropped,"  a 
loafer  pleaded  with  me.  "  I  meant  to  pass ;  though  T 
did  not  care  to  get  a  high  grade;  in  point  of  fact  the 


186  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

way  I  had  it  figured  out  I  did  pass,  but  the  instructor 
evidently  did  not  figure  as  I  did." 

"Evidently  not;  they  don't  always,"  was  all  I 
could  say. 

The  loafer  is  a  hindrance  to  all  kinds  of  progress. 
If  he  gets  elected  to  office  it  is  for  the  honor  and  not 
with  the  idea  of  doing  any  work,  and  the  interests 
in  his  keeping  go  to  the  bow-wows ;  if  he  is  on  a  com- 
mittee he  is  late  when  it  meets  or  he  never  comes  at 
all ;  if  he  is  a  member  of  an  organization,  he  lies  down 
sluggishly  and  retards  all  advancement. 

I  was  at  a  loss  to  know  last  fall  why  an  organiza- 
tion in  which  I  was  interested  was  getting  on  so 
badly. 

"  \Yho  is  your  president?  "  I  asked  one  of  the  mem- 
bers. 

"  Baird,"  was  the  reply,  "  and  he's  too  lazy  to  do 
anything  himself  and  too  conceited  and  self-satisfied 
to  let  any  of  us  do  what  ought  to  be  done."  Most 
loafers  in  office  play  the  part  of  tlie  dog  in  the  manger 
admirably.  The  loafer  has  done  more  to  undermine 
the  faith  of  sensible,  practical  people  in  the  value  of  a 
college  training  than  any  other  class  of  student. 
Men  can  pass  over  without  comment  a  dozen  first 
rate  fellows  whose  lives  have  been  broadened  and 
whose  ideals  have  been  strengthened  and  whose  use- 
fulness to  the  community  has  been  increased  by  their 
college  training,  but  the  loafer  never  gets  by  them. 
He  is  an  argument  hard  to  meet. 

I  was  trying  to  persuade  Old  Man  Elliott  who  runs 
the  hardware  store  in  the  country  town  where  I  spent 
my  childhood  that  he  ought  to  send  his  son  to  col- 
lege.    The  boy  had  done  well  in  liigh  school ;  he  was 


THE  LOAFER  187 

ambitious-,  and  the  old  man  could  well  afford  the 
money.  I  was  getting  on  pretty  well  when  Bill  Haws 
in  golf  togs  ambled  down  the  street  leisurely,  a 
cigarette  in  his  mouth  and  a  vicious  looking  bull  dog 
tugging  at  the  chain  which  he  was  holding.  Bill  had 
registered  at  Michigan  once  and  had  been  fired  be- 
cause he  wouldn't  work.  The  old  man  looked  at  him 
a  moment  and  shook  his  head.  "  Do  you  think  I 
want  my  boy  to  look  like  that  ?  "  he  asked.  And  yet 
Bill  Haws  had  not  been  injured  by  college.  He  had 
been  a  loafer  always ;  it  had  been  bred  in  him  by  his 
indulgent  father  and  by  his  foolish  mother,  but  the 
college  got  the  credit  for  his  unambitious  lethargic 
life,  as  in  such  cases  it  always  will. 

When  President  Lincoln  was  being  beset  and  re- 
viled for  retaining  General  Grant,  whom  many  con- 
sidered incompetent,  at  the  head  of  the  Northern 
Army,  he  replied,  "  I  can  not  spare  this  man ;  he 
fights."  It  is  this  sort  that  the  college  needs  —  men 
who  have  a  purpose  and  determination  to  carry  it 
through  if  it  takes  the  skin  off,  men  who  will  fight 
the  hardest  intellectual  battles  stubbornly  and  per- 
sistently. There  is  no  success,  there  is  no  ultimate 
salvation  for  any  excepting  through  hard,  persistent 
regular  work ;  and  for  that  reason,  it  seems  to  me 
there  is  no  place  in  college  for  the  loafer.  Especially 
do  I  feel  that  this  is  true  in  a  state  university.  The 
young  fellow  who  goes  to  such  an  institution  pays  in 
tuition  scarcely  a  tenth  of  what  his  education  is  cost- 
ing the  state.  Every  wash  woman  and  laborer  and 
artisan,  every  farmer  and  clerk  and  mercliant  in  the 
state  is  paying  a  part  of  the  cost  of  this  young  man's 
eilucation,  and  is  doins^  thi<  with  the  thought,  if  he 


188  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

has  thought  of  it  at  all,  that  the  student  should  be- 
come a  better  citizen.  Such  an  institution  is  no 
place  for  loafers ;  it  is  a  place  for  men  with  ambitions, 
with  a  purpose,  with  willingness  to  work  and  a  desire 
to  make  the  most  of  themselves  and  to  do  what  they 
can  for  the  upbuilding  and  the  betterment  of  the  com- 
munities into  which  they  go.  The  quicker  a  college 
gets  rid  of  its  loafers  the  better  it  will  be  for  the 
loafers  and  for  the  college. 


THE  FUSSER 

The  two  sorts  of  activities  in  college  life  which 
invariably  make  the  front  page  are  the  activities  of 
athletics  and  the  activities  of  social  life.  Athletics, 
of  course,  occupies  the  center  of  the  stage,  but  the 
"  f usser  "  is  a  close  second  to  the  athlete  when  those 
engaged  in  college  activities  are  bidding  for  first 
mention  in  the  newspapers.  In  the  case  of  these  two 
activities,  as  in  many  another,  prominence  brings  a 
flood  of  adverse  criticism,  and  the  two  things  in  the 
life  of  the  undergraduate  student  of  to-day  in  the  big 
universities  which  are  most  severely  railed  at  and 
criticized  by  the  newspapers  and  by  the  public  in  gen- 
eral are  inter-collegiate  athletics  and  the  students' 
social  life. 

Everybody,  including  those  who  live  in  college 
towns  and  those  who  are  in  the  state  at  large,  seem 
to  agree  that  the  social  life  of  the  undergraduate  in 
college  is  excessive,  that  he  goes  too  much ;  in  fact  it 
is  quite  generally  believed  by  a  great  many  that  his 
life  consists  of  very  little  else  than  social  pleasure, 
and  that  he  spends  his  time  not  in  study,  as  lie 
should  do,  but  in  running  from  one  social  orgie  to 
another.  The  young  women,  especially  at  a  co- 
educational institution  where  there  are  usually  sev- 
eral times  as  many  men  as  women,  are  thought  to  bo 
intemperate  in  social  matters  to  the  extent  of  break- 
ing down  the  health  of  a  large  percentage  of  them 
189 


190  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

and  of  permanently  acquiring  a  sort  of  social  de- 
lirium tremens.  Ijocal  women,  at  mothers'  meetings 
and  at  afternoon  sewing  circles  or  bridge  whist  par- 
ties, look  very  serious  and  shake  their  heads  know- 
ingly when  they  talk  of  the  awful  social  goings  on 
over  at  the  college. 

"  Believe  me,"  some  maiden  of  uncertain  years 
affirms,  "  I  wouldn't  let  a  daughter  of  mine  do  as 
those  girls  do.  It's  scandalous,  and  would  ruin  any 
constitution." 

Now  the  real  fact  is  that  the  average  young  woman 
whom  I  know  in  college,  and  my  acquaintance  is  not 
limited,  has  very  little  social  life,  and  the  average 
man,  and  1  know  thousands  of  them,  has  still  less. 
Rather  than  there  being  too  much  social  life,  as  many 
allege,  T  am  convinced  that  there  is  too  little.  The 
trouble  lies  in  the  fact  tliat  what  there  is,  is  too 
restricted  in  character  and  is  entered  into  by  too  few 
people.  A  study  of  the  dances  given  at  the  institu- 
tion with  which  I  am  connected  will  show  two  things : 
granted  that  the  number  given  is  large  yet  it  is  true 
that  never  more  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the  whole  stu- 
dent body  is  dancing  at  any  week-end  and  often  not 
one  half  this  number,  and  it  is  true  also  that  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  student  body  does  at  least  ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  dancing.  The  social  work  is  un- 
evenly distributed. 

I  have  spoken  of  dancing  as  if  it  were  the  main 
social  activity  in  which  college  students  indulge.  In 
an  inland  college  town  in  the  ^liddle  West  this  is  not 
far  from  the  fact,  though  there  are  athletic  games 
which  bind  more  strongly  than  any  other  activity 
the  undergraduate  body  into  a  more  unified  group; 


THE  FUSSER  191 

there  are  the  church  sociables  which  reach  a  consider- 
able number  of  students,  and  there  are  also  vaudeville 
and  moving  picture  shows  which  at  one  time  or  an- 
other lure  most  of  the  students  within  their  doors. 
Where  the  college  is  not  situated  upon  a  river  or  a 
lake  there  can  be  no  skating,  no  tobogganing,  no 
boating,  and  no  bathing,  excepting  of  a  strictly  do- 
mestic character.  The  undergraduate,  who  at  the 
week-end,  when  his  college  work  is  done,  is  looking 
for  somewhere  to  go  with  a  young  woman  for  pleasure 
or  relaxation  is  practically  always  limited  to  dancing 
or  to  the  local  moving  picture  or  vaudeville  shows, 
and  of  these  two  opportunities  the  former  presents 
the  more  refinement  and  the  less  evil  and  is  most 
frequently  taken  advantage  of. 

Both  of  these  forms  of  social  pleasure  seem  to  the 
unthoughtful  onlooker  indulged  in  to  excess  by  the 
undergraduate  body  in  general  because  he  does  not 
analyze  the  constituents  of  the  crowd  that  make  up 
the  patrons  of  these  social  activities.  He  hears  the 
rag-time  music  pounded  out  as  he  passes  a  dance-hall 
in  the  evening,  he  sees  the  crowds  pouring  out  of  a 
vaudeville  play-house,  and  he  concludes  that  students 
in  general  put  in  most  of  their  time  either  at  a  vaude- 
ville show  or  at  a  dance.  He  does  not  stop  to  calcu- 
late that  perhaps  not  five  per  cent,  of  the  student 
body  is  dancing  and  not  ten  per  cent,  at  the  theater, 
nor  does  he  conclude,  as  he  should,  as  he  walks 
through  the  student  district  and  sees  the  student 
lodging  houses  lighted  from  cellar  to  garret  that  on 
almost  any  Friday  or  Saturday  evening  of  the  week 
at  least  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  undergraduates 
arc  in  their  rooms  after  eight  o'clock  not  engaged  in 


192  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

any  active  social  life  at  all  excepting  such  as  one  may 
enjoy  through  associations  with  the  fellows  in  his 
own  lodging  hou.'*e. 

If  the  observer  who  believes  that  the  social  life  at 
any  college  or  university  is  excessive  would  study  for 
a  time  the  composition  of  the  crowd  that  frequents 
the  vaudeville  theaters  and  moving  picture  shows,  if 
he  would  for  a  time  regularly  attend  the  college 
dances,  as  I  have  done  for  the  past  twenty  years,  he 
would  see  that  it  is  largely  the  same  people  who  sup- 
port the  shows  and  who  are  familiar  with  the  regular 
change  of  bill  from  week  to  week  and  from  day  to 
day.  I  have  talked  often  with  the  men  who  furnish 
the  music  for  these  shows,  and  they  all  admit  that 
there  is  a  deadly  similarity  in  the  crowds  that  come 
daily  to  these  shows.  The  undergraduate  gets  the 
show  habit  as  he  may  acquire  the  habit  of  smoking 
or  drinking,  and  one  habit  is  as  dominating  as  the 
others.  1  imagine  that  very  few  college  officers  have 
attended  more  student  dances  during  the  last  twenty 
years  than  I  have,  and  the  thing  that  constantly  sur- 
prises me  when  I  do  attend  is  the  limited  number  of 
students  which  frequents  these  parties.  It  is  possible 
before  I  go  to  a  dance  to  guess  correctly  the  names  of 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  fellows  who  will  be  there.  Of 
course,  if  it  is  a  fraternity  dance  the  problem  is  easy, 
for  the  attendants  at  such  a  party  will  be  the  active 
members  of  the  organization,  but  even  when  I  am  in- 
vited to  the  Junior  Prom  or  the  Sophomore  Cotillion 
or  the  Militar}'  Ball  or  a  Union  Dance  I  have  come  to 
know  the  dancing  crowd,  and  I  can  safely  predict 
who  will  be  in  the  grand  march  before  I  get  into  the 
reception  line. 


THE  FUSSER  193 

Only  a  few  weeks  ago  I  was  discussing  this  same 
situation  with  one  of  our  college  officers  who  was  de- 
ploring the  fact  that  our  girls  were  going  out  to 
parties  to  an  extent  that  was  proving  ruinous  to  the 
health  of  many  of  them,  and  she  thought  the  Univer- 
sity should  pass  some  pretty  rigid  regulations  to  con- 
trol this  situation. 

"  How  many  of  our  girls,"  I  asked,  "  do  you  think 
make  up  the  list  of  these  social  debauchees?  How 
many  ought  to  be  locked  up  or  sent  home  or  put  into  a 
sanitarium?"  She  thought  for  a  moment  and  then 
replied,  "  Forty,  perhaps,"  and  then  thinking  again, 
"  twenty  would  very  likely  include  all  of  them." 
And  this  is  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  our  girls.  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  not  more  than  that  propor- 
tionate number  of  our  young  men  are  excessively 
given  to  dancing  and  similar  forms  of  social  activity. 
I  am  sure  that  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  under- 
graduates whom  I  have  known  have  too  little  social 
life ;  instead  of  the  social  activities  of  our  college 
being  intemperate,  the  fact  is  that  they  are  controlled 
by  a  monopoly  of  a  very  limited  number  of  people. 
Five  per  cent,  of  our  students,  to  state  the  case  gen- 
erously, have  too  much  social  life,  twenty  per  cent, 
have  about  what  normal  young  people  require,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  undergraduate  body  have  too  little, 
and  so  get  out  of  college  crude  and  inadequately 
trained  in  social  matters. 

This  condition  of  ill-training  is  intensified  consid- 
erably in  an  institution  like  the  state  university,  be- 
cause of  the  large  number  of  technical  students  in 
attendance,  many  of  whom  are  more  interested  in 
acquiring  information  than  in  getting  a  real  educa- 


194  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

tion,  and  who  look  upon  time  as  wasted  unless  it  is 
put  in  in  the  acquiring  of  cold  facts  which  may  later 
be  put  to  use  in  the  earning  of  money.  Graduates 
of  city  technical  high  schools  and  junior  colleges  who 
continue  their  teclmical  training  in  college  too  often 
know  and  care  very  little  about  anything  which  does 
not  seem  to  them  practical,  and  social  finesse  they 
think  is  for  girls  and  liberal  arts  students.  They  fail 
to  see  that  as  much  money  even,  if  that  is  all  they 
want,  is  earned  through  finesse  and  courtesy  and  an 
ingratiating  approach  as  through  a  knowledge  of 
facts,  or  if  that  is  putting  it  a  little  strongly,  at 
least  it  may  be  said  that  no  matter  how  thoroughly 
one  may  be  trained  in  information  or  facts  these  are 
seldom  of  much  use  to  a  man  in  any  business  unless 
he  can  get  the  ear  of  some  one  and  hold  it  without 
physical  force  or  intimidation. 

I  believe  that  colleges  in  general  give  too  little  at- 
tention to  the  social  training  of  their  students.  The 
authorities  have  the  feeling  usually  that  there  is  too 
much  social  life,  that  young  men  and  women  Avill 
look  after  these  things  tliemselves,  and  that  the  best 
thing  the  college  authorities  can  do  is  to  sit  on  the  lid 
and  discourage  excess  as  much  as  possible.  The 
authorities,  also,  are  not  unlikely  to  feel  that  study 
and  social  pleasures  are  antagonistic,  forgetting  the 
adage  that  all  work  and  no  play  makes  for  intellectual 
slowness,  and  that  every  normal  human  being  needs 
some  social  exercise.  The  feeling  that  every  student 
will  see  to  it  himself  that  he  gets  all  he  needs  might 
be  correct  if  social  opportunities  were  open  in  college 
to  all  students  alike,  and  if  all  students  had  equal 


THE  FUSSER  195 

interest  in  these  things  and  equal  cleverness  in  adapt- 
ing themselves  to  new  social  conditions. 

It  is  the  regular  fusser,  however,  well  dressed  and 
"  high  man  "  with  the  ladies,  who  in  every  college 
community  with  which  T  am  familiar,  gives  more 
time  to  society  than  to  liis  studies,  and  monopolizes, 
to  the  exclusion  of  his  sturdier  companions,  the  social 
life  of  the  college.  Every  organization  has  one  or 
two  such  men,  and  they  are  so  adroit  in  getting  rap- 
idly from  one  place  to  another  that  they  seem  much 
more  numerous  tlian  they  really  are.  Sometimes 
they  devote  themselves  to  one  young  woman  exclu- 
sively, though  this  concentrated  devotion  is  seldom 
for  long,  and  almost  never  results  in  anything  serious 
or  remotely  related  to  matrimony ;  sometimes  like  the 
husy  hee  they  flit  from  flower  to  flower  never  stopping 
long  enough  in  any  one  parlor  to  form  more  than  a 
speaking  acquaintance  with  the  inmates.  Some 
fussers  try  hard  to  get  their  names  into  every  social 
pot  that  is  boiling. 

I  have  a  young  freshman  in  mind  —  Harold  I 
think  his  fond  mother  named  him.  He  goes  tearing 
down  the  street  while  I  am  at  breakfast  to  meet 
Ethel  and  to  carry  her  books  to  an  eight  o'clock,  at 
eleven  I  see  him  riding  with  Grace  in  her  dual  power 
car,  and  at  three,  as  I  look  out  of  my  window  upon 
the  back  campus,  I  catch  a  glimpse  of  him  strolling 
languorously  with  Blanche.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
before  dinner  he  has  paid  c-ourt  to  other  susceptible 
hearts  and  that  by  bed-time  he  has  sat  in  the  easy 
chair  at  one  sororit}-  house  at  least.  He  is  a  hard 
worker,  this  callow  young  freshman,  but  it  is  not  at 


196  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

his  books,  and  unless  he  takes  the  Dean's  warning 
he  is  not  long  for  this  intellectual  world. 

The  fusser  who  devotes  himself  to  one  girl  is  quite 
interesting.  I  do  not  mean  here  to  include  the  young 
man  who  is  mature  enough  to  know  his  own  mind, 
who  is  far  enough  along  in  college  to  think  seriously 
of  the  future,  and  whose  prospects  are  sufficiently 
definite  to  make  it  possible  for  him  intelligently  to 
contemplate  marriage.  This  class  of  men  is  not  a 
very  large  one  but,  however  many  or  few  there  are,  I 
leave  them  out  of  the  question.  The  man  1  have  in 
mind  is  the  one  who  is  playing  with  emotion,  who 
thinks  or  imagines  that  he  is  in  love,  and  who  grows 
as  restless  if  he  must  be  separated  from  the  object  of 
his  melodramatic  adoration  for  a  few  hours  as  does  an 
inveterate  smoker  deprived  for  a  half  day  of  his 
cigarettes.  Such  a  man  can  never  be  a  student.  If 
he  gets  out  his  books  for  an  hour  in  a  half-hearted 
effort  to  absorb  a  little  information  he  is  likely  to 
accomplish  nothing.  His  mind  wanders  to  the  last 
walk  he  took  with  her  or  to  the  next  engagement  he 
has  made,  and  his  eyes  are  fixed  dreamily  upon  her 
framed  picture  on  his  desk.  He  may  stick  to  the 
books  for  a  few  minutes,  but  it  is  not  long  until  he 
remembers,  perhaps,  that  she  is  leaving  Lincoln  Hall 
at  this  hour,  and  he  rushes  out  to  meet  her  and  to 
walk  home  with  her. 

Such  a  man  while  in  this  state  of  mind  has  an 
even  chance  of  flunking,  and  no  chance  at  all  of  do- 
ing respectable  Avork.  He  would  be  more  useful  run- 
ning a  soda  fountain  than  in  college  and  very  little 
use  anywhere.  I  have  occasionally  tried  to  reason 
with  him,  but  I  can  recall  very  few  cases  where  1 


THE  FUSSER  197 

accomplished  much  worth  while.  The  social  enthu- 
siast who  thinks  he  is  in  love  is  not  amenable  to  rea- 
son ;  such  a  disease  as  his  must  usually  run  its  course, 
must  wear  itself  out;  there  is  very  little  that  either 
medicine  or  advice  can  accomplish,  and  yet  if  any- 
thing could  be  done  for  him  it  would  be  by  a  physi- 
cian or  by  a  psychologist. 

The  game  in  which  the  fusser  is  sitting  is  not  a 
cheap  one;  if  a  fellow  is  to  stay  with  it  long  he  will 
need  to  have  a  good  income.  There  are  parties  and 
cabs  and  flowers  to  be  considered;  there  are  auto- 
mobile rides  and  all  sorts  of  excitements  to  be  paid 
for,  and  refections  and  confections  innumerable  to 
be  provided.  He  must  constantly  be  on  the  alert  for 
fear  some  other  more  adroit  or  more  generous  suitor 
should  get  ahead  of  him.  It  will  not  seem  surpris- 
ing, then,  that  the  fusser  is  an  easy  borrower,  con- 
stantly behind  in  his  bills,  and  regularly  overhead  in 
debt.  Xot  even  poker  played  by  a  man  of  bad  judg- 
ment, inept  at  the  game,  is  more  disastrous  to  an 
undergraduate's  montlily  allowance  than  is  the  game 
which  the  fusser  is  trying  to  play.  I  was  talking  not 
long  ago  to  a  father  who  has  two  sons  in  college  to 
each  of  whom  he  gives  the  same  mouthly  allowance, 
and  this  allowance  is  not  an  ungenerous  one.  His 
elder  son  was  always  in  debt,  always  complaining  of 
the  stringency  of  the  money  market;  the  younger 
boy  was  satisfied,  solvent,  and  could  always  show  a 
respectable  balance  in  the  bank.  The  father  was  dis- 
turbed and  unable  to  explain  the  trouble.  I  as- 
sured him  that  the  expltuuition  was  a  very  simple 
one;  his  elder  son  was  playing  the  social  game;  he 
had  joined  the  sentimental  army  of  fussers.     When 


198  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

the  father  showed  an  inclination  to  doubt  the  ac- 
curacy of  my  diagnosis  of  his  son's  case  I  drew  out  a 
good  sized  florist's  bill  against  the  boy,  long  overdue, 
which  had  come  to  me  in  the  morning  mail  from  a 
local  establishment  with  the  polite  annotation  that 
any  effort  which  I  should  be  willing  to  make  in 
bringing  about  a  speedy  settlement  of  the  claim 
would  be  gratefully  received.  The  father  was  con- 
vinced. 

It  is  the  fusser  who  monopolizes  the  organized 
social  life  of  every  college.  He  is  seen  at  every 
party,  glued  to  a  single  partner  throughout  the 
evening.  He  may  come  late,  but  he  never  wants  to 
go  early,  ten  o'clock  may  find  him  yawning,  but  mid- 
night sees  him  freshening  up  remarkably,  and  if  the 
party  is  a  formal  one  and  is  allowed  to  run  until 
one  or  two  o'clock,  he  is  just  getting  his  second  wind 
at  these  hours  and  is  eager  to  continue  his  toddling 
until  sun-up.  It  is  he  who  opposes  any  attempts 
to  regulate  the  hour  of  bringing  parties  to  an  end  on 
the  ground  that  such  regulations  interfere  with  the 
personal  rights  of  individuals.  The  longer  the  party 
runs,  he  thinks,  the  more  fun  it  is,  for  he  never 
allows  his  real  college  work  to  interfere  with  his 
studies.  He  would  drop  dead  from  fright  if  he  con- 
templated continuous  study  for  six  hours,  but  eight 
or  nine  hours  of  continuous  dancing  gives  him  great 
exhilaration.  The  fusser  in  college  reminds  me  most 
vividly  of  the  country  greenhorns  in  pioneer  days  who 
felt  that  it  was  a  waste  of  time  to  call  on  a  young 
woman  on  Sunday  evening  unless  they  could  sit 
around  yawning  until  three  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

It  is  he,  too,  who  frequently  breaks  into  the  man- 


THE  FUSSER  199 

agement  of  social  functions,  since  by  being  on  the 
managing  committee  of  a  party  he  thereby  secures 
free  admission  and  so  cuts  down  his  expenses.  If 
this  graft  includes  free  cabs  and  free  candy  for  the 
girl,  so  much  the  better;  he  is  just  that  much  ahead. 

The  fusser,  stretching  his  legs  before  the  grate  fire 
in  his  lodging  house,  lying  in  the  barber's  chair  get- 
ting a  face  massage,  or  sitting  on  the  front  porch 
watching  the  crowd  go  by,  has  but  one  topic  of  con- 
versation. He  is  not  interested  in  the  supremacy  of 
a  democratic  government  in  Russia,  or  in  athletics, 
or  in  food  conservation ;  he  is  not  interested  in  labor 
agitations,  or  in  his  studies;  or  in  anything  that 
makes  for  the  betterment  of  the  community  or  the 
state;  his  only  topic  of  thought  and  conversation  is 
girls,  singly  and  in  groups,  individually  and  collec- 
tively. What  he  doesn't  know  about  girls  has  not 
been  written  or  thought  of  or  talked  about.  He 
knows  them  all  absolutely,  and  he  has  them  all  tab- 
ulated and  cataloged  and  properly  estimated.  He 
usually  does  not  agree  with  you  at  all  in  your  own 
personal  estimate  of  any  individual  young  woman  in 
question  and  is  sure  that  if  you  had  had  his  experi- 
ence you  would  know  a  deal  sight  more  than  you  do. 
He  knows  a  lemon  from  a  peach  in  any  garden  of 
girls  in  which  he  may  be  wandering,  and  he  is  eag- 
erly willing  to  give  you  the  benefit  of  liis  skilled  judg- 
ment. You  may  be  bored  by  his  talk  after  you  have 
listened  to  him  for  a  lialf  hour,  but  you  could  not  in 
reason  doubt  his  taste  or  liis  conclusions. 

I  have  seen  a  healthy,  enthusiastic  freshman  come 
home  from  a  pleasant  happy  evening  with  a  sensible 
normal  girl  have  all  the  joy  and  enthusiasm  taken 


200  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

out  of  him  by  the  knowing  fusser  to  whom  he  con- 
fided the  details  of  his  call.  The  poor  freshman  is 
pitied,  laughed  at  for  his  taste,  and  told  that  he  has 
been  wasting  his  time  upon  a  "  dead  one."  It  is 
the  fusser  who  sets  the  styles  in  girls  as  well  as  in 
dancing  and  in  social  forms  and  conventions. 

The  fusser  is  a  social  aristocrat.  It  annoys  him 
to  meet  at  any  social  function  one  whom  he  does  not 
know  or  who  is  not  in  his  own  particular  social  set. 
If  he  is  a  fraternity  man,  and  he  very  frequently  is, 
it  galls  him  to  have  to  associate  with  "  barbs  " ;  if  he 
is  a  liberal  arts  student  he  feels  annoyed  at  having 
to  come  in  contact  with  the  cruder  "  ags."  If  he 
goes  to  a  dance,  he  clings  to  liis  partner  throughout 
the  evening;  he  avoids  bourgeoisie  crowds  of  com- 
mon undergraduates,  he  considers  any  general  col- 
lege function  cheap  and  vulgar;  he  likes  best  to  get 
into  a  small  exclusive  organization  for  social  activi- 
ties where  one  does  not  meet  so  many  uninteresting 
people  whom  one  does  not  know  or  care  for.  Any- 
thing that  makes  for  social  democracy  he  discour- 
ages or  frowns  upon,  and  if  by  mistake  he  stumbles 
into  a  democratic  social  gathering,  he  is  unspeak- 
ably bored  or  gets  a  lot  of  sport  out  of  the  experience 
by  taking  his  place  at  a  distance,  not  entering  with 
any  heartiness  into  the  pleasures  under  way,  and  by 
making  fun  of  whatever  is  done  or  of  whoever  comes 
along.  He  looks  upon  tlie  whole  performance  as  a 
crude,  vulgar  jam  which  affects  him  only  to  give  him 
ennui  or  pain. 

I  was  talking  to  the  president  of  one  of  the  most 
prominent  of  our  undergraduate  organizations  at  a 
Union   dance  last  spring  about  these  very  matters. 


THE  FUSSER  201 

He  had  spoken  to  no  one  apparently  during  the  whole 
evening  excepting  the  young  woman  over  whom  he 
had  been  hovering  until  he  condescended  to  give  me 
a  word  and  a  hand-shake.  "  These  parties  are  a 
horrible  bore,"  he  ventured,  "  one  never  meets  any 
one  whom  he  cares  to  know  or  to  associate  with," 
and  the  young  woman  with  him  simperingly  assented 
to  the  doctrine.  His  object  in  speaking  to  me,  I 
found,  was  to  ask  my  advice  and  to  obtain  my  con- 
sent to  his  organization  of  a  little  group  of  men,  a 
kind  of  a  social  monopoly,  which  would  make  it  un- 
necessary for  him  to  come  into  contact  with  any  ex- 
cepting the  most  select  —  he  to  make  the  selection. 
I  tried  to  show  him  the  advantage  of  a  wide  ac- 
quaintance, the  o])portunities  for  training  and  im- 
provement in  the  democratic  associations  which  were 
open  to  him  in  just  such  social  functions  as  lie  was 
then  a  part  of ;  but  he  oould  not  see  it ;  it  did  not 
appeal  to  him ;  he  was  altogether  selfish  and  narrow 
in  his  social  activities ;  he  hated  the  crowd.  He  was 
a  good  illustration  of  the  typical  fusser,  who  de- 
sires to  restrict  and  dominate  the  social  life  of  col- 
lege for  his  own  advantage  and  his  own  narrow,  petty, 
selfish  pleasures. 

There  are  a  groat  many  young  women  in  our  co- 
educational institutions  who  encourage  this  type  of 
man.  He  keeps  the  furniture  in  sorority  houses 
dusted  and  polished  through  his  various  calls;  he  con- 
tributes chocolate  bon  lx)ns  to  satisfy  the  feminine 
craving  for  saccharine;  he  luus  a  fluent  flattering 
tongue,  and  he  is  ready  to  play  the  gallant  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice.  He  so  well  satisfies  the  social  needs 
of  the  moment   tliat   it   seems   useless   to   many  so- 


202  DISCIPLINE  AND  THE  DERELICT 

cially  nervous  girls  to  encourage  the  friendship  of  a 
solider  and  a  less  show;)'  man,  for  fear  they  will  have 
less  social  excitement  and  fewer  opportunities  to 
make  social  engagements.  The  popular  girl  and  the 
fusser  in  college  are  both  of  a  piece  and  together  do 
much  to  spread  a  false  idea  of  what  the  actual  social 
life  is  of  the  average  young  person  in  college;  both 
should  be  eliminated  wherever  it  is  possible. 

The  fusser  in  college  is  a  social  menace.  His  pur- 
pose in  enrolling  as  an  undergraduate  is  not  to  ac- 
complisli  really  good  honest  college  work ;  the  college 
is  for  him  simply  the  theater  in  which  he  is  to  have  a 
chance  to  stage  a  little  social  drama  in  which  he  will 
be  the  star  actor.  He  wants  to  professionalize  and 
commercialize  the  social  life  of  college.  All  he  sees 
in  it  is  an  opportunity  to  make  money  or  to  have  a 
regular  and  continuous  good  time. 

"  I  don't  expect  my  son  to  do  much  work  in  col- 
lege." a  foolish  father  said  to  me  a  few  years  ago. 
"  I  want  him  to  have  a  little  social  life,  to  enjoy  him- 
self, to  acquire  polish.  He'll  get  plenty  of  chance 
to  work  after  he  leaves  college." 

"  And  he'll  pro])ably  leave  college  \evy  quickly," 
1  added,  for  the  man  wliose  object  in  being  in  college 
is  to  get  into  society,  very  soon  lags  behind  intellec- 
tually and  either  withdraws  of  his  own  volition,  or  is 
sent  away.  The  man  who  gets  no  social  training  in 
college  is  missing  one  of  the  most  iin[)ortant  by- 
products of  college  life,  but  the  man  who  gets  little 
or  nothing  else  has  wasted  his  undergraduate  years. 

The  college  that  does  not  concern  itself  with  the 
social  life  of  its  students,  that  does  not  in  some  way 
control  or  direct  that  life  so  that  no  one  will  be  shut 


THE  FUSSER  203 

out  from  opportunities  for  social  training  and  social 
pleasures  is  making  a  grave  mistake.  The  college 
that  without  making  an  effort  to  change  matters 
allows  its  social  life  to  be  restricted  and  controlled 
by  a  small  group  of  social  butterflies  is  committing 
a  crime.  I  am  sure  that  in  the  large  institutions  of 
which  we  regularly  read  in  the  newspapers,  the  al- 
leged social  dissipations,  accounts  of  which  are  con- 
stantly making  the  front  page,  are  indulged  in  by  a 
very  small  per  cent,  of  the  whole  body  of  under- 
graduates. It  is  the  social  aristocrat  of  whom, 
thank  heaven,  there  are  not  many,  who  dominates 
and  controls  the  social  life  of  every  college  with 
which  I  am  familiar,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  great 
body  of  students  who  most  need  the  training  which 
comes  from  such  an  experience.  There  are  in  every 
college  scores  or  hundreds  of  young  men  and  women 
who  are  too  shy  and  too  inexperienced  to  form  a  so- 
cial world  of  their  own,  whose  social  instincts  are  be- 
ing repressed,  who  are  being  shut  out  from  the  life 
which  should  be  freely  open  to  them,  and  who  are 
starving  for  a  normal  social  life.  College  authori- 
ties should  be  wide  enough  awake  to  see  the  situation 
and  to  meet  it,  the  social  autocracies  in  college  should 
be  overthrown,  and  every  undergraduate  should  be 
offered  a  fair  chance  for  social  training  and  social 
education. 


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